Research Foundations on Successful Participation of

Underrepresented Minorities in Information Technology

Final Report from a Cyberconference
Oscar N. Garcia
Wright State University
PI and Coordinator
Roscoe Giles
Boston University
Co-coordinator
Moderators
Richard Al
University of Houston

Etta Hollins
Wright State University

Kenneth R. Anderson
Consultant

Robert Marcus
Central State University

Andrew Bernat
University of Texas at El Paso

Giorgio McBeath
Wright State University

Karen R. Buller
National Indian Telecoms. Institute

Willie J. Harris
Solarsound Broadcast Commercials Co.

Deborah M. Cooper
Consultant

Willie Pearson
Wake Forest University

Evans Craig
AHPCC, University of New Mexico

C. V. Ramamoorthy
University of California, Berkeley

Henry T. Frierson, Jr.

University of North Carolina

Richard A Tapia
Rice University

Mario J. Gonzalez
The University of Texas System

Bryant W. York
Northeastern University

Ricardo Gutierrez-Osuna
Wright State University

Robert F. Watson

Consultant

Table of Contents
1. Executive Summary..........................................................................1
1.1. INTRODUCTION.....................................................................................................................1
1.2. DESCRIPTION OF THE CONFERENCE.....................................................................................1
1.3. CONFERENCE OUTCOMES.....................................................................................................2
1.3.1. Issues...........................................................................................................................2
1.3.2. Summary of Identified Research Topics......................................................................3
1.3.3. Conclusions and Recommendations............................................................................5
1.4. IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THE CYBERCONFERENCE .........................5
1.5. OPPORTUNITY TO RESEARCH THE FOUNDATIONS OF MINORITY PARTICIPATION IN IT.......5

2. Introduction.......................................................................................7
2.1.
2.2.
2.3.
2.4.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH AND CHANGE AND ETHNICITY............................7

BACKGROUND ON THE PROBLEM.......................................................................................10
PROPOSAL FOR A CYBERCONFERENCE ON RESEARCH IN MINORITIES IN IT.....................11
THE EXECUTION OF THE CYBERCONFERENCE...................................................................12

3. Summary of the Issues Resulting from the Cyberconference

Postings............................................................................................15
3.1. SUMMARY OF ISSUES FOR TOPIC 1: OUTREACH................................................................15
3.1.1. Objectives of Outreach..............................................................................................15
3.1.2. Access first.................................................................................................................16
3.1.3. Access is not equal for all ethnic groups...................................................................16
3.1.4. Common and uncommon problems/priorities...........................................................17
3.1.5. Community Computer Centers..................................................................................18
3.1.6. The Need for a Relevant Vision.................................................................................19
3.1.7. Creating a Vision of IT is Difficult............................................................................20
3.1.8. The Relevant Vision must be Simple..........................................................................20
3.1.9. More on Community Computer Centers....................................................................20
3.1.10. Databases and reports...............................................................................................21
3.1.11. Reports and Issues Related to Native Americans......................................................22
3.1.12. Technology, Race, and Income..................................................................................23
3.1.13. Balance Between Education and Training................................................................23
3.1.14. High School Computer Competition (HSCC)...........................................................25
3.1.15. Career Selection Process Must be Understood.........................................................25
3.2. SUMMARY OF ISSUES FOR TOPIC 2: TEACHING K-PH.D....................................................26
3.2.1. Back to Basic Needs: SMET Courses and Native Americans...................................26
3.2.2. Technology and Connectivity; Parental Involvement................................................27
3.2.3. Well Applied, Relevant, CBTs can help Minorities....................................................28
3.2.4. On Recognition of Teaching and on Teaching Minorities.........................................29
3.2.5. Comparative Cost of SMET Curricula......................................................................29
3.2.6. "The Pipeline" - The Graduate School Branch.........................................................29

3.2.7. Distance Education...................................................................................................29

3.2.8. Selection of IT Careers by Capable Minority Candidates........................................30
3.2.9. Relevancy and Education..........................................................................................30
3.3. SUMMARY OF ISSUES FOR TOPIC 3: RESEARCH.................................................................31
3.3.1. U.S. citizens and Minorities in Graduate School......................................................31
3.3.2. Is it rewarding to go to Graduate School in IT?...................................................32
3.3.3. Affirmative Development...........................................................................................33
3.3.4. The Pipeline Model and Its Implications for Minorities with Undergraduate Degrees
34
3.3.5. Who will lead from within our communities?............................................................34
3.3.6. References and priorities...........................................................................................35
3.4. SUMMARY OF ISSUES FOR TOPIC 4: MENTORING...............................................................36
3.4.1. Who and How Many? How do we scale up? Who can mentor? What is a critical
mass for peer mentoring? The efficiency of peer mentoring....................................36
3.4.2. Isolation of Minority Students...................................................................................37
3.4.3. Can we teach/learn how to be a mentee or mentor?.................................................37
3.4.4. Motivational Mentoring/Career Guidance?..............................................................37
3.4.5. Apprenticeship and Mentoring..................................................................................38
3.4.6. Mentoring Minorities to Graduate School through REUs........................................38
3.4.7. The Pyramid of Mentoring........................................................................................38
3.4.8. Research on Mentoring in Academia........................................................................39
3.4.9. Mentoring as a Topic of Research.............................................................................39
3.4.10. Study Mentoring in a Social Context.........................................................................40
3.4.11. Can Mentoring be Successful in Any Kind of Institution?........................................40
3.4.12. Methods of Mentoring...............................................................................................41
3.4.13. Financial Goals and Realities...................................................................................42
3.5. SUMMARY OF ISSUES FOR TOPIC 5: OTHER.......................................................................42
3.5.1. Different Issues for Different Minority Groups.........................................................42
3.5.2. Public Education and IT Proficiency Demonstration...............................................42
3.5.3. A Women and Minority Self-Development Program.................................................43
3.5.4. Vocational Tests Could Supplement HS Counseling.................................................43
3.5.5. Technology, Race, and Income..................................................................................44
3.5.6. Inheriting ethnicity is not the same for all................................................................44
3.5.7. The Strategy of the AIHEC........................................................................................44
3.5.8. Career Counseling and Surveys................................................................................45
3.5.9. Vision and Definition of IT: What is an Information Technologist?..........................46

4. Moderators Discussions and Interim Report on Recommendations

...48
4.1. MINUTES FROM MEETING IN ROOM 730 AT NSF ON DEC. 9, 1999, 1-5 PM.....................48
4.2. STATISTICS OF POSTINGS (PRESENTED BY DR. GARCIA)....................................................48
4.3. ISSUES FROM TELECONFERENCE........................................................................................49
4.3.1. Aggregation vs. separation........................................................................................49
4.3.2. Coordinating efforts..................................................................................................50
4.3.3. Specificity..................................................................................................................50
4.3.4. Research vs. assessment vs. implementation.............................................................50

4.3.5. Research on how to best develop human resources in IT..........................................51

4.3.6. Mentoring..................................................................................................................51
4.3.7. Minorities at majority institutions.............................................................................52
4.3.8. Career counseling.....................................................................................................53
4.3.9. Training vs. education...............................................................................................53
4.3.10. SMET results do not necessarily transfer to IT.........................................................54
4.3.11. IT is the prototypical multi-disciplinary changing discipline...............................54
4.4. POTENTIAL RESEARCH TOPICS...........................................................................................55
4.4.1. The important issues of access (see inputs 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.9, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3)........55
4.4.2. Vision and definition of IT (see inputs 1.6, 1.7, 1.8, 5.9)...........................................55
4.4.3. Reports, databases, too much information that goes uninterpreted (see inputs 1.10,
1.11, 1.12, 3.6)...........................................................................................................55
4.4.4. How to make training lead to education (inputs 1.13, 1.14)....................................55
4.4.5. Understanding factors of IT career selection, improving aptitude identification and
counseling related to minority populations (see inputs 1.15, 5.2, 5.4, 5.8, and some
in Teaching K-PhD)...................................................................................................56
4.4.6. How to execute, recognize and reward quality teaching in IT (see inputs 2.4, 2.5,
2.6, 3.4)......................................................................................................................56
4.4.7. Distance learning development in IT, when and where and how does it work? (see
inputs 2.7, 2.8, 2.9)....................................................................................................56
4.4.8. US citizens rather work in IT than go to IT graduate schools, foreign IT students
turn into workers as a safety valve for industry, who will lead in IT in the US? (see
inputs 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.5).............................................................................................56
4.4.9. The BIG issue of mentoring (see inputs 4.1 through 4.13)........................................56
4.4.10. Different issues for different ethnic groups in different locations (and vs. womens
issues)........................................................................................................................56
4.4.11. Can self development and life-long learning be taught and used effectively? What
kinds of materials are most cost effective? (see item 5.3).........................................57
4.4.12. Understanding what is needed in research vs. assessment vs. implementation (see
teleconference topic 4 above)....................................................................................57
4.4.13. What programs and how would one assure or sustain effectively the continuity of
programs over long periods of time (an overarching issue).....................................57
4.5. CITED REFERENCES............................................................................................................57

5. Appendix I: Cyberconference Moderators..................................59

6. Appendix II......................................................................................63
6.1.
6.2.
6.3.
6.4.
6.5.

PURPOSE OF THIS PROPOSAL..............................................................................................63

MOTIVATION FOR THIS PROPOSAL......................................................................................63
SOME PREVIOUS AND ONGOING EFFORTS...........................................................................65
CONSTITUENCIES - STUDENT PARTICIPATION......................................................................71
WHAT IS THE SAME AND WHAT IS DIFFERENT IN OUR OBJECTIVES FROM THOSE OF OTHER
WORKSHOPS? FACTORS.....................................................................................................74
6.6. TOPICS AND TIMETABLE FOR THIS PROPOSAL....................................................................75
6.7. BUDGET FOR THIS PROPOSAL.............................................................................................75
6.8. EXPECTED OUTCOMES.......................................................................................................76

6.9. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF LEVELS OF PARTICIPATION IN THIS PROPOSAL AND SUGGESTED

PARTICIPANTS......................................................................................................................76
6.10.REFERENCES AND RESOURCES...........................................................................................78

7. Appendix III. Computer Science degrees during 1989-1995.....79

8. Appendix IV. Guidelines and Netiquette.....................................81
8.1. WORKSHOP POLICIES.........................................................................................................81
8.2. WORKSHOP GUIDELINES:...................................................................................................81

9. Appendix V. NSF Dear Colleague Letter on the IT Workforce. 82

10. Appendix VI: Research Questions................................................85
10.1.THEME 1: ENVIRONMENT AND CULTURE...........................................................................85
10.2.THEME 2: IT EDUCATIONAL CONTINUUM..........................................................................85
10.3.THEME 3: IT WORKPLACE.................................................................................................86

11. Appendix VII. Limited On-site Survey 88

1. Executive Summary
This report chronicles a Cyberconference, Research Foundations on Successful
Participation of Underrepresented Minorities in Information Technology, including the issues
raised, important research topics and its conclusions and recommendations to the community.

1.1.

Introduction

Changes are sweeping our computer-intertwined real lives in many different directions
and our society is being further fragmented, not only by levels of education, financial status, and
ethnic background, but also by accessibility to and knowledge of what Herbert Simon called the
world of the artificial. Just as with many other education-related issues, but this time more
pervasively, the world of interactions with computers has extended from programming to dialogs
and navigation in virtual and simulated worlds of information that will further divide our
children and adults into haves and have-nots. The underrepresented minority population in the
United States, while increasing in numbers, is decreasing in numbers of people entering the
computer field at a time when the bounty of new opportunities seems to be rising without end in
sight. Large segments of the population, on the basis of ethnicity and gender, are not
participating in proportional numbers in supplying the information technology needs of the
nation. Why? What can be done about it?

1.2.

Description of the Conference

The stated purpose of the conference was to disclose the fundamental research issues
underpinning the success factors for the participation of underrepresented minorities (OMB
definition) in careers at all levels in Information Technology, and in particular, Computing
Science and Engineering. The minority groups of concern for this work include African
Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans.
The conference was conducted on-line during the months of October and November 1999
(see http://www.cise.nsf.gov/itminorities.html). It was sponsored through Grant EIA-9910768 of
the National Science Foundation (NSF), and utilized electronic media provided by NSF.
(Concurrent with this conference NSF sponsored a second conference that sought research issues
related to the under representation of women in Information Technology-for further information
see http://www.cise.nsf.gov/women.html).
Phase I of the conference in October began by announcing the conference and its goals,
and provided an open forum for discussion of the stated topic. The conference announcement
suggested initial discussion within five categories: Outreach, Teaching, Research, Mentoring,
and Other, noting that each minority group might have some issues different and some the same
within each category. Phase II in November presented summaries and analyses from Phase I,
and received further input from both previous and new participants. One hundred thirty-six
people registered for one or both phases of the conference, of whom about forty provided a total
of 204 substantive inputs.
The project principal and co-principal investigators, together with 17 other
scientists/educators oversaw and moderated the two phases, and subsequently analyzed and
interpreted the results of the two phases. In December 1999, this project leadership met via
teleconference and later with NSF staff to further analyze the inputs from the Cyberconference.

1.3.

Conference Outcomes

The body of the report identifies in considerable detail issues and recommendations
derived from the participant input and organized under the topic categories shown above.
Because many of the findings clearly overlap these categories, and some defy categorization, the
following summaries are listed independently from the original five categories. This was not a
surprising result, as the initial categories were only intended as a framework to stimulate
discussion.
1.3.1. Issues
The following ten issues with sub-issues provided the framework for seeking significant
research topics. Highlights include the needs of different individuals, different minority groups,
and the need to match these with the new and projected opportunities and needs for IT. The need
to determine and seek an appropriate balance between research and action was at least implicit
and frequently explicit in the discussions.
1. Aggregation vs. Separation: Not only do major differences exist among the three
identified minority groups, but also significant differences may occur within each group,
particularly due to geographic and demographic variations. Clearly some common
problems exist, but even where they do, solutions may differ from group to group, and
within groups, by such variables as region, gender, and across the scientific sub-fields.
How should programs best be structured and to what degree of specificity?
2. Coordination and Previous Work: Much previous and recent work, both on research
and implementation has been done, but its systematic and timely archiving has not been
done. Data and knowledge from the efforts of public and private agencies, scientific
societies, etc. is not organized, and difficult to obtain. How can active organizations
better coordinate their efforts and share their results? How can modern information
systems contribute to this goal?
3. Research vs. Assessment vs. Implementation: Many past and existing programs have
obtained results that have not been adequately evaluated. Resistance to assessment and
evaluation is universal, and is certainly not limited to this topic. What balance of
research and implementation programs is now needed? How best can future efforts build
on previous work? What lessons have we learned about each of the ethnic groups?
4. IT Needs for Human Resources: The needs at all levels of knowledge are so great that
revolutionary directed efforts to improve participation of minorities may be needed.
Research universities are leaders. How can they and their faculties succeed with minority
students, and impact the rest of education? How can educational quality be maintained
and the future potential of the graduates not be short-changed in the rush to rapidly
prepare for employment? How can IT education be optimized to effectively reach
minorities at all levels?
5. Mentoring: Much evidence suggests that mentoring can be a major factor in helping
minorities to succeed. Good and bad mentoring can occur in many environments,
including all levels and types of educational institutions, in differing styles and media,
and by peers as well as by more experienced persons. These and other variables may

affect different minority groups differently. How can mentoring be better understood,
best applied, and made most effective?
6. Minorities at Majority Institutions: Most minority students matriculate at majority
institutions. These institutions and their faculties have many resources to create IT
access, but lack incentives to focus on minority needs. Opportunities include prototype
distance learning activities, partnerships with minority institutions, and integration of
research and education including minorities. What are the potentially best roles for
majority institutions, and how can they be fulfilled?
7. Career Counseling: Secondary School career counselors may be key to minority success
in college. Their importance as mentors may be without equal. Their training regarding
IT careers and their perceptions regarding minorities and IT careers may frequently be
wanting. Is a major program directed at understanding and improving many facets of
U.S. secondary school career counseling to minorities needed?
8. Training vs. Education: This traditional education issue (and sub-issues) is particularly
significant here, both regarding the needs and sensitivities of the minority communities,
and the status of IT jobs and careers today. Job opportunities and training programs for
IT technologists abound, but may be limited in their long-range potential. How can the
benefits of short-term training and longer-term education be maximized to meet the needs
of individuals and the workforce?
9. Relation of IT to the Basic Sciences: Many of the lessons learned in motivating and
retaining minority students in areas of science, mathematics, engineering and technology
(SMET disciplines) do not seem to transfer directly to IT. We suspect that the
motivational factors that are used in the sciences and engineering are of a different nature
than those which stimulate the budding information technologist. What are the
motivational and retention factors most significant in attracting and retaining IT minority
students?
10. The Multi-disciplinary, Changing Nature of IT: Communicating to students, teachers,
counselors, parents, etc., the nature and complexity of IT and its contrast to the Basic
Sciences (SMET) is not easy. The IT community needs to acquaint and attract nonpractitioners to IT, for example conduct analogs to science fairs, and other public events.
What techniques will help students and their mentors to understand the nature, utility,
interest and excitement of IT?
1.3.2. Summary of Identified Research Topics
Each of the following topics contains within it a multitude of research possibilities. The
report presents these as prime possibilities, but does not suggest that they are all-inclusive, that
research projects should necessarily focus within any one of these listed, or even that this list
should constitute the only priority target for the community. It is representative of what the
community of contributors and moderators considered important research areas.
1. Access. Access to computers and networks are key issues. What factors most affect
access for all groups, for each group and for individuals in different regions, far from and
within cities? What ways would serve best to quantify and catalog these factors? What
techniques would be most likely to succeed in solving problems related to access?

2. Nature of IT. IT needs a definition and vision that would provide a common thread
among the many facets of IT. What elements within IT fit best with the needs and
interests of minorities?
3. Existing Reports and Databases. Many previous studies and projects contain a wealth
of information on IT and minorities. Synthesis, collation, archiving, interpretation, and
analysis should be considered and carried out for current and future research and
implementation. Should a national clearinghouse or IT minority workforce workbench
be constructed? Perhaps create coordinated IT databases with proper search and
taxonomy features?
4. Training and Education. Short-term training may lead to good but limited jobs.
Research is needed on ways to make the connection between training and education as
seamless as possible, optimally an integrated continuum. How can initial IT training
provide a path to minorities developing further into more broadly educated computer
scientists and engineers?
5. Career Selection by Minorities. Many factors must affect career selection by minorities
beginning at very young ages and continuing. Research is needed to identify these
factors as they relate to IT careers, and to apply that knowledge to improve both access
and entry. How to improve aptitude certification and counseling, especially at the
secondary school level needs significant study.
6. Quality of Teaching IT. Many projects have aimed at improving and assessing teaching
of minorities at all levels. What can be found from these to improve, recognize and
award quality teaching specifically in IT for minorities? What factors are important in
improving both future teachers and the current teaching force in IT?
7. Distance Education. Distance education looms ahead as a major factor in teaching and
learning. What are its implications for minority participation in IT? Are there special
benefits or deficits in distance learning for minorities in general, for IT in general, for
minorities in IT?
8. Advanced Degrees. Workforce shortages in IT at higher academic levels are perhaps as
significant as at lower levels. Graduate schools and industry increasingly rely on foreign
citizens. What are the long-term consequences? Research is needed on the social,
economic, and educational factors that deter or slow down U. S. minority citizens from
continuing to higher degrees and career success in IT.
9. Mentoring. Conventional wisdom declares the extreme importance of mentoring in
helping young people, especially minorities to succeed. Codification, analysis, and
synthesis of existing knowledge are needed. Research should determine the most and
least effective mentoring techniques and conditions, and point to novel and more
effective approaches.
10. Self-Reliance. All individuals must take responsibility for their own development and
ultimate success and minorities are often on their own and without guidance in a fast
moving IT technology. What factors are most important in enhancing self-reliance, selfdevelopment, and life-long learning for IT minorities? Can these qualities be taught?
What materials would be most useful? What must every IT professional know, and how
will an IT professional continuously manage to maintain currency?

11. Assessment and Impact. Both past and future work should contain appropriate metrics
for evaluation and impact assessment. Although evaluations exist for many individual IT
projects and programs, integration and synthesis with an emphasis on quantification are
necessary to inform future IT work. Research and development related to better
standardized and quantified assessment instruments toward providing a consistent body
of knowledge are essential. How can long-term IT educational efforts, based on strong
social and political will, be planned with flexibility to adapt appropriately to rapid
changes and be regularly evaluated to assure sustained quality of results?
1.3.3. Conclusions and Recommendations
In summary, the conference participants found that both needs and opportunities are great
for research on the factors relating to underrepresentation of the minority groups in an array of
Information Technology careers. The research should take the form of both synthesis and
integration of existing data and information, and the generation of new knowledge in areas not
yet addressed.
The problems extend throughout the educational spectrum, from kindergarten through
graduate school. These problems that exist generally are exacerbated in IT due to its newness, its
rapid expansion and growth, and its multidisciplinary, pervasive character. Additionally, research
questions in some cases will be unique to a single minority group, even subgroups, but may
pervade all groups or be different in different regions even for groups of the same ethnicity. This
determination constitutes a major research question in itself.
Finally, the conference demonstrated a normal dichotomy of beliefs and concerns for the
proper balance between research and action. Clearly, research is necessary, and a program with
long-range goals should be established. At the same time, this should not replace nor does it
displace the need for action programs, such as mentoring and accessibility, which can and are
having proven impacts, but which will benefit greatly from systematic study.

1.4.

If you would like to know more about the Cyberconference

Persons interested in the conference in greater depth are invited to peruse the conference
Web Site that contains much more detail on the activities and findings, and the complete
statements provided by the participants. It can be accessed at:
http://www.cise.nsf.gov/itminorities.html.

1.5.

Opportunity to Research the Foundations of Minority Participation in IT

You will find in the Appendix V of this report a copy of the Dear Colleague letter that
has been released by Dr. Ruzena Bajcsy, Assistant Director of NSFs CISE Directorate and the
NSF suggested possible topics in Appendix VI. The spirit of the initiative announced in the call
for proposals is part of the broader picture of researching how to increase the workforce in
Information Technology (and part of the Information Technology Research effort of NSF/CISE)
and how to help this through increased participation of minorities and women in IT. It is very
much in the same spirit of our Cyberconference.
The NSF Website for this announcement is http://www.nsf.gov/cgi-bin/getpub?nsf0077.

We are hopeful that many will submit proposals to this program, as appropriate, and that you
may help us publicize this opportunity. Notice please that the deadline for proposals is June 22,
2000. Some examples of research topics appropriate for proposals for this solicitation are given
at the end of the letter.

2. Introduction
2.1.

Information Technology Research and Change and Ethnicity

We recognize only too well the speed of change of technology and its effects on the
pervasiveness and increased bandwidth of information media. Since this technological change
has increasingly significant effects on the educational and economic development of the peoples
of this country it will also become a vital instrument of democratic and social change if it is
accessible to all and if its content is optimized for proper educational and for positive
motivational objectives across ethnicities and social class. Similarly, the participation of women
in Information Technology was well below their representation in the population and a virtual
conference on that subject was run parallel to this one. We found that a large number of issues
were different.
In this Cyberconference we have endeavored to seek what research is necessary to
identify what are the barriers that cause ethnic underrepresentation in Information Technology
and how to best remove them. We seek causes of the problem and investigate how to optimize
the solutions to it through change.
We have found that this is a many dimensional problem that has been investigated
independently by many from a wide variety of perspectives. We also find that little effort has
been dedicated to the integration of those various perspectives and that little attention has been
given to a systematic public archive that accurately reflects the extent and variety of those varied
attempts to understand or solve the problem by a gamut of government, professional, and private
entities.
At a time when our teachers in K-12 are faced with students acting like adults earlier than
ever, we find that there is a wide gap between students and teachers at that level and their college
and university peers. The problems in starting to attract high school students to information
technology are quite different from those at the college and university level, where the task is
somewhat easier. Unfortunately we had a disappointingly low participation of high school
teachers in our Cyberconference, but that fact was an indicator of itself of the problem. At the
high school level there are local budget
I have been disappointed that there has not been more
and space constraints, lack of
talk of the K-12 arena. I think we need to get minority
understanding
of
information
children interested and show relevancy at the grade
technology
by
teachers
and
school level. On reservations the children dont even
administrators,
and
insufficient
know a career in computer science is even an option for
knowledge of what would lead to a
them.... I'm sure this is true in other minority
professional career in IT versus some
communities... I think we need to have a major push to
intuition that some rapidly acquired
highlight the career opportunities for minority
knowledge in IT could land a good
youngsters. Make it attractive and make it relevant to
paying job immediately. At the college
their
own
cultures
and
communities.
level it seems that the perspectives
Karen Buller
presented to the student are one of
more choices of a mathematically
oriented curriculum, a computer science and computer engineering curriculum with a strong
physics and calculus requirement, or a business information management perspective. There are

many other title variants on these choices but they are fundamentally partitioned as described. It
is interesting to realize that many more students transfer out of information technology into other
disciplines rather than into information technology from other disciplines, except for the few
cases where the student had already a background in mathematics (calculus) and science (mostly
physics, also others). This does not apply to business-oriented information technology where the
mathematics and science requirements are significantly lower. There is a significant gap
between these two orientations that has not been fully faced by science oriented government
agencies.
We also found that not only is there significant variance in the social, economic and
cultural outlooks for a given ethnicity, but there is also significant geographical variation for
groups of the same ethnicity. Our statistics often sweep over these and other differences, in a
natural effort to cluster trends and provide measures. Often those statistics do not represent the
same ethnic groups although they have the same or similar labels at different points in time, but
it should be recognized that collecting statistics is an inherently difficult task. Clearly, if the
collectors of statistics knew what we were looking for, they could do a better job of their process.
Finally, coping with a variety of issues and the magnitude of the problem is a daunting
task. The proposal presented to the National Science Foundation, which is discussed in another
segment of this final report, was mostly oriented to the even more difficult task of isolating the
research topics that would lead to a better understanding of the causes of underrepresentation.
Continuously, during the Cyberconference the tendency of the participants was to gravitate
toward the offering of potential solutions rather than to the analysis of the root causes of the
problem. In the opinion of many of us, it was a true reflection of the perceived paucity in
obtaining documentable or obvious results. One of the participants did a clever back-of-theenvelope computation given the projected needs of the IT industry, the productivity of academic
programs, and the representation of minorities in those programs, and the result led to a dismal
picture of the almost impossibility of solving the problem of underrepresentation. It seems very
difficult even to satisfy the projected needs with non-minority workers. But at the same time, it
points to the state of crisis that both problems are approaching and their importance in the
national interest.
In attempting to attract a broad range of inputs, the topics were divided in five areas. The
initial intent, broadened by the participants themselves, was reflected in our description of the
five clusters of potential research topics:

Topic Cluster 1 Outreach. The outreach section works with the following types of
issues:
1. How can institutions and industry work with elementary and secondary school
systems to provide access to computer technology?
2. How can students be motivated and properly prepared to move into the study of
computer fields in college?
3. How can computer careers be viewed by minority students as being important to
the economic and social well-being of their communities?

Topic Cluster 2 Teaching from K to PhD.

following types of issues:

The teaching section works with the

1. How does the cultural and social environment affect success in school?

2. How much information about computer fields is available in public schools, especially
those with significant minority enrollments?
3. How does exposure to computers in the early school years affect interest in computing as
a career?
4. How does instructor competence in computer technology affect the interest of students to
pursue computer careers?
5. How much can students learn on their own versus what must be taught in the

classroom?

Topic Cluster 3 Research. The research section works with the following types of
issues:
1. What is the relationship between grad programs at minority institutions and the
support given to them by majority institutions?
a. How can the cooperation between the two types of institutions be
improved?
b. How can majority institutions assist in ensuring that minority students
with advanced degrees get the guidance necessary to insure their success?
c. How can majority institutions remove the sense of isolation felt by many
minority students at these institutions?
2. How does diversity integration (in organization and salary structure) in industry
differ than that of institutions, and how does this affect career paths?
3. How do institutions recruit more minority faculty?

Topic Cluster 4 - Mentoring. The mentoring section works with the following types of
issues:
1. How do institutions benefit from such programs?
a. How can institutions recognize the need for such programs?
b. How are faculty encouraged to participate, and how are they taught to be
caring, committed, and competent mentors?
c. How do institutions reward good efforts?
2. What are the positives and negatives of attempting to implement such programs?
a. What makes a good mentor, and how can they be identified?
b. How do institutions encourage faculty to participate?
c. How can institutions avoid overburdening faculty who take on this new
role?
3. How can other important groups (family, industry, other students) be included in
these programs?

Topic Cluster 5 - Other Topics. This section works with all postings that do not fit in
any of the previous categories.

Furthermore, there were two Phases in this Cyberconference, which unfortunately were
not perceived as fully differentiated by the participants. In the first Phase we hope to state the
salient aspects of the problem, and in the second Phase, the intended concentration was on the
areas of research that would disclose how to tackle the problems. The outline of the five phases
given above was intended as motivation for the first phase, and the summaries of the first Phase
were intended as motivation for the second Phase. This did not work as well as hoped, but many
carefully crafted responses were pointers to deep research issues. The responses were as follows:

The Outreach topic had 48 postings in the first Phase and 26 in the second for a total
of 36% of all postings. The fact that it was the first section may have had something to
do in attracting the most attention among participants but maybe it was the topic.

The Teaching from Kindergarten to PhD topic had 36 postings in Phase I and a
disappointing 8 in Phase II for 22% of all postings.

The topic on Research had 18 postings in the first part and only 5 in the second. It
constituted the smallest of all topical cluster postings with 11%. It should be noted, for
clarity, that this was not about research on minorities but on research on research success
by minorities and similar topics.

Mentoring was a very broad topic about which it was said that much is known and
written about. There were 31 postings in the first Phase and 11 in the second. It was the
third most popular topic in postings, with a broad range of views in 21% of all postings.

The Other topic, intended as a catch-all for a variety of issues, attracted 10 postings in
Phase I and 11 postings in Phase II, and it was the only segment whose popularity
increased in the second Phase, for a total 10% of all postings.

It should be noticed that Phase II was approximately one week shorter than Phase I (four
weeks) and that there was a diminished participation after the initial few weeks. However, new
people posting appeared throughout the Cyberconference. Also, since registration was required
for the conference we counted the number of registrants, which vastly exceeded the number of
people who posted. Some of this may have had to do with some difficulties in the mechanics of
posting, but clearly there were more people interested in reading the writings of others than in
producing their own.
In the following pages and in the appendices we describe several aspects of the
Cyberconfence that deal with its implementation and relative success. The purpose of those
sections is to help a future designer of a similar project. The reader interested in reaching the
substantive results of the conference inputs and conclusions should concentrate on the
Recommendations section and on Appendices III and IV, although valuable aspects that provide
context in greater detail are distributed throughout the text of the report.

2.2.

Background on the Problem

The computer science community and the U.S. government and its agencies have been
increasingly concerned about the lack of proportional participation of large segments of the
American population in engineering and the sciences in general, and in information technologies
in particular, specially after the recent unprecedented growth of that scientific and industrial
segment. The term digital divide has been coined by the National Telecommunications and
Information Administration and has been used in a series of well-publicized reports ([NTIA 99],
[NTIA 98], [NTIA 95]). Additionally, the National Science Foundations Division of Science
Research Studies of its SBE Directorate, under Congressional mandate, has produced a sequence
of nine biennial reports on the status of Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in
Science and Engineering that have been oriented toward the educational and research
involvement of these segments of the US population. The most recent of those reports [SRS 98]
and others, clearly indicates that, for some ethnic groups their participation in the computing
sciences proportional to their presence in the national population is well below average. Also,

the National Urban League, the Benton Foundation, segments of private industry, and
professional organizations such as the IEEE Computer Society, the Association for Computing
Machinery and, in particular the Computer Research Association [CRA 99], along with the US
Department of Commerce [DOC] have been concerned about the dual problems of scarcity of
information technology (IT) workers and the underrepresentation of minority segments in the IT
field. Most recently, on December 9, 1999, as part of a conference on the Digital Divide [DDS
99] President Clinton outlined plans for closing the gap [CLINT 99] and charged the Secretary of
Commerce with planning [DALE 99].
In the face of the earlier flurry of high-level reports and the impending funding of the
Information Technology Research initiative, we proposed an open conference via the World
Wide Web in trying to find the opinion of the community on specific needed research that would
facilitate increasing the number of underrepresented minorities in the IT field. Co-coordinators
for this conference were Oscar N. Garcia of Wright State University, in Dayton, OH and Roscoe
Giles, of Boston University, Boston, MA. A diverse group of moderators also participated in
the shaping of the virtual conference and served as a resource for a wide variety of questions.
The names and addresses of the moderators are shown in Appendix I. The proposal for this
Cyberconference as we called it, is shown in Appendix II. A rather extensive report on issues
of human resources in IT and on national and regional needs has been issued by the Office of
Technology Policy of the Department of Commerce of the U.S. [OTP 99].
It is most important to point out that the national need for IT workers is significant, so not
only does it become important for social development to open the field to underrepresented
minorities but they are also a source of untapped human resources. The nation needs minorities
in IT and minorities need to participate in the mainstream of this technological development if
they are not to lag further in the three dimensions of educational background, social
environment, and economic status.
The degree of underrepresentation of minorities (and of women) in the IT academic field
in Computer Science is clearly reported by NSFs SRS [SRS 98]. We display the indices (ratio
of percentiles of minorities graduating over percentile representation in the overall population)
for BS, MS, and PhD degrees for five ethnic groups (White, non-hispanic; Asian; Black, nonhispanic; Hispanic; and American Indians or Alaskan Natives) in the first three of these graphs in
Appendix III from 1989 to 1995. It is clear that the only overrepresented minority is the Asian
group (overrepresentation is a number over 100%). If we zoom in the plots leaving out the Asian
group, the last three charts indicate the degree of underrepresentation of the Black, Hispanic, and
American Indian populations over that time period. More recent data after 1995 is just now
becoming available but not in time for inclusion in this report.

2.3.

Proposal for a Cyberconference on Research in Minorities in IT

A proposal was written and funded by the National Science Foundation to try to
determine what research could inform on the best remedial actions for underrepresentation of
these ethnic groups. The proposal is included as part of this report because it conveys our initial
thoughts and the premises on which it was based (see Appendix II). Fundamentally, to reduce
costs, the study was carried out via electronic means to which we tried to attract a varied
constituency of underrepresented minorities. The proposal contains the rationale and details on
the conduct of the Cyberconference.

2.4.

The Execution of the Cyberconference

The two virtual conferences, having as objective the determination of needed research to
increase the participation of women and of minorities, were carried out with the assistance of the
information systems staff of NSF. While the contents and formats were designed by the
proposers, the hardware and software used were those of NSF. The format used was based on
the Domino Lotus Notes software. It was probably a bit more complex in some aspects, but it
did provide some degree of security that was necessary. Only in one instance did a message have
to be deleted for being considered totally improper. The process of first registering and then
posting a message, which had to be followed in that order for first time registrants, may have
deterred some from posting who were not comfortable with the use of this type of system. At
times the system indicated that a posting had not occurred while it indeed had taken place; the
user naturally posted a second time, which later had to be corrected. A better software setup
should be used in future conferences of this nature. Continuous support by the same staff would
also have facilitated the conduct of the Cyberconference.
There were a total of 204 postings and a total of 136 registrants for the minorities
Cyberconference reported here. However, of the total number of registrants only about 30%
posted which gives credence to the difficulty of posting or perhaps the interest in the topic but
not the desire to communicate their ideas on the subjects. We have speculated that the issue of
more interest in seeing rather than being seen on the Internet is one of potential research value.
It must be said that the great majority of the postings were substantive with different but not very
divergent points of view. The first phase had the greatest participation and went on for one week
longer than the second. The postings and the summaries written have been kept in the web site
http://www.cise.nsf.gov/itminorities.html and are available for reading at the time of this writing.
There was a great variance with the frequency with which each posting participant posted a
message. The average was 3.7 postings per posting participant, but the variety of topics brought
up and discussed was quite significant given the 40 different persons posting. We could isolate
at least 52 relevant issues from the postings.
In what follows we list the issues presented for each of the five topics during Phase I,
from October 7 when it opened to November 4, 1999:
Topic 1: Outreach
1.1
1.2
1.3
1.4
1.5
1.6
1.7
1.8
1.9

Objectives of Outreach
Access first
Access is not equal for all ethnic groups
Common and uncommon problems/ priorities of each ethnic group
Community Computer Centers
The Need for a Relevant Vision
Creating a Vision of IT is Difficult
The Relevant Vision must be Simple
More on Community Computer Centers

Topic Cluster 2: Teaching K-Ph.D.

2.1

Back to Basic needs: SMET Courses and Native Americans

2.2
2.3
2.4
2.5
2.6
2.7

Technology and Connectivity; Parental Involvement

Well Applied, Relevant, CBTs can help Minorities
On Recognition of Teaching and on Teaching Minorities
Comparative Cost of SMET Curricula
The Pipeline - The Graduate School Branch
Distance Education - Internet Courses for Advance Placement

Topic Cluster 3: Research

3.1
3.2
3.3
3.4
3.5

U.S. citizens and Minorities in Graduate School

Is it rewarding to go to Graduate School in IT?
Affirmative Development
The Pipeline Model and Its Implications
Undergraduate Degrees
Who will lead from within our communities?

for Minorities

with

Topic Cluster 4: Mentoring

4.1
4.2
4.3
4.4
4.5
4.6
4.7
4.8
4.9
4.10
4.11

Who and How Many? How do we scale up?

Isolation of Minority Students
Can we teach/learn how to be a mentee or mentor? - A Mentoring Course
Motivational Mentoring/Career Guidance?
Apprenticeship and Mentoring
Mentoring Minorities to Graduate School through REUs
The Pyramid of Mentoring
Research on Mentoring in Academia
Mentoring as a Topic of Research
Study Mentoring in a Social Context
Can Mentoring be Successful in Any Kind of Institution?

Topic Cluster 5: Other Topics

5.1

Different Issues for Different Minority Groups

5.2
5.3
5.4

Public Education and IT Proficiency Demonstration

A Women and Minority Self-Development Program
Vocational Test could Supplement HS Counseling

5.5

Technology, Race, and Income

and the issues per topic presented during Phase II from November 4 to November 24, 1999, with
continued numbering:
Topic Cluster 1. - Outreach
1.10
1.11
1.12
1.13
1.14
1.15

Databases and reports

Reports and Issues Related to Native Americans
Technology, Race, and Income
Balance Between Education and Training
High School Computer Competition (HSCC)
Career Selection Process Must be Understood

Topic Cluster 2. - Teaching K to PhD

2.8

Selection of IT Careers by Capable Minority Candidates

2.9

Relevancy and Education

Topic Cluster 3. - Research

3.6

References and priorities

Topic Cluster 4. - Mentoring

4.12
4.13

Methods of Mentoring
Financial Goals and Realities

Topic Cluster 5. - Other

5.6
5.7
5.8
5.9

Inheriting ethnicity is not the same for all

The Strategy of the AIHEC
Career Counseling and Surveys
Vision and Definition of IT: What is an Information Technologist?

Other details in the conduct of the Cyberconference, such as the "netiquette" and other
conduct guidelines, may be found in Appendix IV for future reference.
During the second phase of the conference we charged one of the moderators to visit
community centers, high schools, and mostly Historically Black Colleges to survey perceptions
and advertise our Cyberconference. A brief summary of his report is included in Appendix VII.
His findings correlate with our concerns about available information and advice on IT careers
available at the High School level.

3. Summary of the Issues Resulting from the Cyberconference

Postings
All the issues listed and summarized below originated with some postings, usually within
a discussion thread, but at times we combined several discussion threads that seemed coherent.
The editing of the inputs received for the whole period of the conference (10/7/99 to 11/24/99)
was kept to a minimum, short of providing raw inputs. The input summaries are organized with
the corresponding topic.

3.1.

Summary of Issues for Topic 1: Outreach

3.1.1. Objectives of Outreach

Four clear objectives are: 1) increase the number of home computers, 2) provide
opportunities for students to see technology in use, 3) increase the comfort level of teachers with
technology, and 4) allow infrastructure funding for technical support of computers in school use
so that teachers can do their work, and are not burdened by the maintenance task. Expanding
these objectives with more detail would include:
1. Improving the Information Infrastructure within target communities: schools, churches,
and community centers could be primary starting points for any such program, including
the equipment and expertise, with ownership and responsibility turned over to them
once they make the commitment.
2. Minority IT professionals required at all levels. They are needed as mentors at target
institutions within communities, as they are the best qualified to understand the complex
needs within their respective communities.
3. Apprenticeship needs to follow mentoring (see Apprenticeship and Mentoring). It is
necessary for students to see IT in action, and what better way than if they are a part of it.
Some kind of tie-in to small businesses could be made. Small businesses lag behind the
global net of corporations in IT. If a small business could get an IT apprentice, his
mentor, and equipment to boot, for a minimal fee, it would prove to be a win-win
situation for the business and also give something back to the greater community.
4. Near state-of-the-art or state-of-the-art equipment needs to be subsidized. The cost of
information technology and maintaining its currency is one of the problems, or at least a
factor in the low numbers of minorities moving toward IT careers. If there were limited
resources and limited knowledge of IT, no one would be quick to spend money on
something like a computer. With some kind of help, we would see an increase of
computers in the home. They are needed for any global access program to succeed.
5. Last but not least, any form of outreach has to address fundamental perceptions and basic
issues on the 3Rs. When one looks at movies and TV, where real and imagined
technology is shown, the imagination of the viewers tells them it is difficult, and they
form some sort of stereotyped geek image of an IT professional. Contributing
members to several kinds of outreach programs - the CyberEd Initiative and privately
sponsored initiatives, for example, report that CTCnet groups who have the hardware and
the space are in need of content. There are ways to create, share and show technology to

the communities that are in need of it. NASA, for example, has some great films which,
unfortunately, are not well advertised. There are people like B. K. Fulton of the Urban
League who will be seen because of the videos of PBS, but again, were there educators
involved in those? Do the writers of the PBS tapes know about minority teaching
situations? They could be major contributors to SMET outreach efforts.
3.1.2. Access first
There are vast regions that do not have network access. Does it make sense to have state
or federal legislation to require telecommunication companies to guarantee in their service
agreements access to network infrastructure for remote and isolated areas (such as in the
southwest)? A national policy on connectivity may be roughly initiated by looking at existing
connectivity maps of Internet coverage such as

www.internettrafficreport.com or

www.statmarket.com or

www.cyberatlas.internet.com on sale by Matrix Information and Directory Services, Inc.

as explained in their web site.

Local communities also must do their part to make themselves attractive and incentivize
telecommunication corporations to provide access. Up-to-date statistics and demographic data
about Natives Americans and their access to the WWW are in a report recently released by The
Benton Foundation, titled Native Networking: Telecommunications and Information
Technology in Indian Country, which analyzes the critical telecommunications and information
technology policy issues facing tribes at http://www.benton.org/Library/Native/ which references
a Princeton Report published in 1995 http://www.wws.princeton.edu:80/~ota/ns20/year_f.html
and the Department of Commerce completed a presidentially mandated study
http://204.193.246.62/public.nsf/docs/EF11D9FADA118E25852567A700643EDC.
Additionally, NMSU is hosting the project site at http://alpha.nmsu.edu/~tech/EDA/index.html.
There is quite a bit of information available, but the question is: Is there anyone listening
at the other end, willing and able to do something about access for all?
3.1.3. Access is not equal for all ethnic groups
The United States Internet Council provides Internet participation rates for minorities.
The full document, entitled State of the Internet: USICs Report on Use & Threats in 1999 can
be retrieved from http://www.usic.org/usic_state_of_net99.htm. Quoting that document: ... But
Forrester Research recently found that Internet access for black Americans is today at 23%, and
that it will reach 40% by the year 2000. Access for Hispanics is today at 36%, and it will reach
43% by 2000. Americans of Asian heritage are most likely to be Internet users. The Forrester
study found 64% of Asian Americans are on the Internet today, and projects that by 2000, 68%
will be.
So, while there are differences, there are also opportunities to appeal to
underrepresented groups via cyberspace. In some ways, this restricts the usefulness of minority
news groups: those who need them the most cannot get to them. It should be noted that
geographically access is restricted by different factors, not just telecommunications. In parts of
the Indian country, one of the key concerns is the stability of the power grid itself, especially as
that grid relates to connectivity issues. At Bay Mills Community Colleges Nishnaabek

Kinoomaadewin Virtual College, for instance, one of the most important issues has to do with
how often power fails at the college. This happens on a regular basis. One often takes for
granted the stability of the service of the utilities, but in Indian country, huge chunks of territory
dont even have telephone service. The question is how can we build a comprehensive access
backbone that serves these out of the way communities as effectively as urban communities?
Community infrastructure issues are also important. For the Navajo tribe of CO, AZ, NM, and
UT, in addition to the sheer size of the territory, one of the problems in CBT is the disparity in
the facilities available for connecting to the Internet. This includes different, incompatible
telecommunication technologies as well as lack of local ISPs to connect the inhabitants of the
reservation, outlying rural areas, and the schools. The ISPs usually involve long distance
charges, therefore putting the service beyond the financial reach of participants.
3.1.4. Common and uncommon problems/priorities
What are the similarities and differences in the blocks that underrepresented minorities
find in the road to IT education, and how do we determine priorities? The history of
underrepresented groups shapes their view of education. One common thread could be that
education is the most certain road to economic and social upward mobility for the great majority
of people. We can conceive of different models to be researched and validated:

Priming the Pump Model To what extent do minority Ph.D.s play a leadership (or
priming) role in creating more general IT-literacy? Do success stories get reflected
back into communities of origin? Do successes become invisible because the target
populations arent aware of the IT culture? To what extent is within group mentoring a
success factor in graduate education?

the Demographics Model To what extent are younger members of target populations
increasingly IT-literate, following patterns of generational differences often found, for
example, in immigrant populations?

the Let Down from the Start To what extent are members of target populations
excluded from IT education because their basic education in, for instance, mathematics
leaves them unprepared? Is this problem particularly bad for IT, or IT simply
representative of other areas of learning that are pretty much equally affected by
problems in early education? The overarching question is how are these models similar
or different for each ethnicity.

Questions raised are if some funding were available, how would one prioritize and argue
for the manner in which one would pay attention to the needs? In particular:

How would we balance and investigate what are the common problems and which are
different for each of the underrepresented minority groups? One thing is to acknowledge
that both cases exist, another how to identify them.

What methodology should we use to find out what are the most significant national
causes that preclude underrepresented minorities to participate in education and thereafter
in the IT workforce? Should we do it by region, and if so, how do we determine the
regions?

How do we measure the relative importance of making all underrepresented minorities

IT-literate and able versus encouraging and funding their graduate education? In other
words, how does one make a case for the importance of solving the problem in an
acceptable, rational, and scientific manner?

In general we can consider, at least, how minority problems are alike or different along
the following dimensions:
1. educational background and preparation
2. environmental/economic/educational conditions (local unemployment, regional median
Income, availability of suitable educational facilities)
3. family/peer-accepted value of education vs. other activities
4. social/family/peer/mentor support structure for educational attainment
These measures are likely to be different for different underrepresented minority groups
and even different for minorities of the same group in different regions (for example, Hispanics
in Florida vs. Hispanics in Texas). While there are likely common threads to the problem that we
are trying to solve (bringing proper representation to IT) for all underrepresented minority
groups, solutions may need to take into account at least those four dimensions mentioned above
which may not be the same for all groups.
Minority Companies and Government: A number of minority companies (for example,
those reportedly interacting with the black community such as BET, Essence, Ebony, Jet,
Johnson Products, African Pride, Carter Savings Bank, Bill Cosby, HARPO Productions, Qwest,
Bad Boy Entertainment, Def Jam, the 3 MJs (Jackson, Jordan & Johnson), etc.) could possibly
play a greater role. In the context of government agencies that promote R&D and education and
human resource development (v. g. NSF, DOE, NASA, etc.) a collaborative *matching* program
between those private entities mentioned above and the government agency might be a
multiplying and coalescing factor, particularly if the private company itself became involved in
helping. Maybe in addition to just donating funds, they could also become involved in
Technology and Training Educational Centers.
The idea of legislation making
telecommunications companies create community computer centers in disadvantaged areas has
also been mentioned. It is equally important that successful minorities who understand the
community be placed in leadership and other role model positions within those community
computer centers so that our young people may have a better sense of the possibilities for their
future.
3.1.5. Community Computer Centers
These centers can take advantage of the population and infrastructure that is already
available and so essential to connectivity. They would:

Need multiple partners: government, industry, and community involvement

Use the strategic advantages of urban centers

Communities in the urban center traditionally have extensive infrastructures. Power,

phone, switching offices, public transportation, and highway access are common attributes found
in these communities. They in essence are capital the community has to bargain with.

Additionally, the available work force in terms of bodies is substantial. There is a strong work
ethic alive in these communities. They could be coupled with a local economic development
plan around a computer and education center that capitalizes on these advantages. Government
allocates the seed money where the computer center is used as a job-training site during the day.
The Internet service provider, or similar business, that just moved into the area, because of the
infrastructure, sees the community computer center as a way to develop an employee stream and
decides to fund the center. There are many ways this can play out but government, industry, and
the community need to be involved. The question becomes, How can these partnerships
develop, or be encouraged, for the benefit of the minority IT workforce development?
One possible way to increase outreach to both urban and rural areas that are lacking
access to technology would be to greatly increase the federal/state/local tax benefits for
businesses and organizations engaging in such an effort, beyond the tax write-off for money or
equipment donations. Such could include:

commercial real-estate owners that provide low-cost space and/or all necessary build-out;
this may be good for some of the smaller shopping centers that are having trouble
keeping tenants due to the growth of larger malls.

equipment manufacturers/distributors that provide new or refurbished hardware/software/

service,

software manufacturers that provide special unlimited licenses for use with these nonprofit centers,

ISPs that provide web development, server hosting space, network engineering, or
connectivity services,

Telephone companies that provide local and long-distance service,

New or used furniture manufacturers or distributors that contribute desks, chairs, etc.

Business and administrative services (accounting, office management, etc.)

Cities and states could receive federal monies for having these centers; the amount should
be directly proportional to the size of the city and number of areas with a concentration of people
with below-average household incomes. By doing it that way, the proponents or opponents of
Affirmative Action could not cry foul. Nonprofit companies could bid for the contract to run
such a Technology Center. This would be to insure that no one company or entity gets too
comfortable with running the center (whoever has the contract would have to stay on top of
things in order to win the contract again the next time it is up for bid). Each instructor, educator,
tutor, or curriculum developer could also be an independent contractor; thus they wouldnt be
subject to the same trials and tribulations most public school teachers are subjected to due to the
whims of their local school boards. These ideas, while all theoretical, might have some
educational potential. Remember SimCity? It has had an impact on many young people who
wanted to understand the complexity of social problems in growing communities. Perhaps we
could have a similar realistic simulation game with the concept of Community Technology
Centers. At least we could simulate how it would operate on a long-term and self-sustaining
educational basis.

3.1.6. The Need for a Relevant Vision

How can a relevant vision of a field be shared, in different manners and contexts, for
different ethnic groups/circumstances? From a previous message we have the following
suggestions:
1. Use technologies/science of interest to the student
2. Make sure you ask them what they might take home from the experience, as ably
explained above
3. Present the experience by a role model or someone to whom they relate, and
4. Help the students clarify their own vision by open discussion
3.1.7. Creating a Vision of IT is Difficult
The difficulty in creating a vision of the IT profession is the fact that it cuts across pretty
much all other disciplines. While engineers can describe the essence of engineering we have
not done the same for IT yet. How can we best describe the essence of IT? People have a highlevel mental image of a computer scientist, but CS is only a portion of IT (the core, definitely).
Perhaps the best way is to look at the computer as a tool, a platform, and not a goal within itself.
3.1.8. The Relevant Vision must be Simple
The vision must be articulated with examples and with simplicity. There are a number of
things that even most potential students understand. Much of it is not in abstract IT but in
applications software, the WWW, an appreciation of knowledge and information explosion on
the WWW, e-commerce, the digital convergence, etc. One very simple graphical map is:
Networking
Hardware

Software
Databases

with applications falling in-between.

3.1.9. More on Community Computer Centers
It seems that the idea of community computer center is being used right now. Officials of
the City of Chicago report a goal of 1000 community web centers to be open by 2000. They
intend to involve business from which cash or hardware would be solicited. NSF has been more
proactive by committing $6M to EDUCAUSE to identify the networking needs of Black,
Hispanics and American Indian institutions and provide a roadmap to their development of
networking.
EOT/PACI
will
receive
$1M
of
that
award.
See:
http://chronicle.com/free/99/10/99102901t.htm.
The new centers grant is for four years, and has two components. One is to help improve
Internet connectivity, campus networks and networking support at tribal colleges, historically
Black and predominantly Black colleges and universities, and Hispanic-serving institutions. The
other is to assist interested minority-serving colleges and universities in developing and using

advanced applications over networks. The award is good opportunity for each community to
improve its networking capability on a system-wide basis by cataloging the networking problems
at each participating institution; determining the desired solutions; locating funding sources and
suppliers of the needed equipment, software and expertise; and then overseeing implementation
of the solutions. We anticipate that one of the key features will be developing cooperative
remote technical support for campus networks, as a way to overcome the problem of hiring and
retaining the technical folks needed to design and run the networks. The award potentially can
help bridge the digital divide by providing the infrastructure over which the academic and
research goals of the institutions can be attained.
For more information contact
dstaudt@educause.edu.
3.1.10. Databases and reports
It seems that a number of Federal Agencies, including NSF, report expenditures of at least
$500,000 per year in one or more statistical activities as reported in
http://www.fedstats.gov/noframe.html. Additionally the Census Bureau in http://www.census.gov
is another excellence source of a wide range of on-line statistical data.
Of particular interest to the participants of this Cyberconference is the most recently
released report (1998), the ninth of the Congressionally mandated series of the NSF Division of
Science Resources Studies on Women, Minorities and Persons with Disabilities which is
presented in a web-enhanced format and in other formats in
http://www.nsf.gov/sbe/srs/nsf99338/frames.htm.
Data about NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress) achievement levels is
incorporated in the study.
The Computer Research Association published The Supply of Information Technology
Workers in the United States. See http://www.cra.org/reports/wits/cra.wits.html.
The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has produced
three in-depth reports on race, technology and income. They are:
1. In July 1995, Falling Through the Net (http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/fallingthru.html)
nationally defined virtual class lines of the technological have and have-nots in rural and
urban America.
2. In July 1998, Falling Through the Net II
(http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/net2/falling.html).

unveiled

the

digital

divide

3. In July 1999, the report Falling Through the Net: Defining the Digital Divide,
(http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/digitaldivide).
Added more data and color to
Americans who were actually technologically falling behind. Obviously, after battling
other issues of pay equity, housing discrimination, etc. families had run out of resources
to provide technology in the home.
Similar issues appear in predominantly white institutions (PWI) where mentors are at
times not very computer literate, and graduate students are not able or motivated to own personal
computers.
Two important aspects to keep in mind related to our objectives with regard to IT success
are: 1) the level of granularity used when considering minorities in reports, and 2) similar

minority groups in different geographical locations do not have the same barriers. As examples,
consider the Asian ethnic group which includes Chinese, Filipinos, Koreans, Japanese, Southeast
Asians, or South Asians, which are groups representing different cultures but having similarities
and differences. Likewise, the Hispanics in Texas and California face different barriers to
education than those in Florida. The scenario for Native American is quite similar.
3.1.11. Reports and Issues Related to Native Americans
Summaries of the issues pertaining to Native Americans in 3 reports (July 99: Falling
Through the Net III - NTIA; July 99: Assessing Technology Infrastructure Needs of Native
American Communities - Commerce Department; and April 99: Native Networking:
Telecommunications and Information Technology in Indian Country - Benton Foundation) are
given by Evans Craig as Information Technology Among Native Communities in
http://www.ahpcc.unm.edu/Alliance/Tribal/ITREPORT/sld001.htm. Other reports may be found
in
the
Native
American
Distance
Education
Community
Website
at
http://www.ahpcc.unm.edu/Alliance/Community/. These reports basically came up with the
same information that the Natives have known for years, it just put it in official documents so
that the federal agencies would fund the activities or recommendations suggested in these
reports. Examples of the barriers identified in 1999 are:
1. A generally weak economic base that prevents Native communities from investing in
infrastructure and upgrading the worker
2. Lack of skills to support a modern technology infrastructure
3. Geographic remoteness that raises the cost of providing technology
4. Distrust on the part of some Native Americans of specific new technologies
5. Lack of private investment on tribal lands
6. Poor information regarding the availability of federal assistance
7. Weaknesses in specific government policies intended to help Native communities
improve their technology infrastructure
Examples of major barriers identified by a Native telecommunications conference in 1993 are:
1. The majority of American Indians do not have equal opportunities to be part of the
nations emerging Information Highway infrastructure.
2. There is currently no means of protecting the rights of Native American intellectual
property owners who distribute their work through existing telecommunications systems.
3. Lack of telecommunications opportunities affect both access to information and
education opportunity for Indian children, youths, and adults.
4. American Indian-owned telecommunications systems that are emerging are developing in
a parallel rather than collaborative way.
5. Existing American Indian telecommunications service providers are committed to the
development of a coordinated Native American Telecommunications System, but lack the
resources and the collaboration necessary to assure quality development.

These are the major barriers identified, but there were 67 issues identified that needed
resolve. There were also 35 different options identified that would address these issues.
If one looks in the previous reports for the Natives and in the reports sent out this year,
one finds almost the same issues. However, one of the participants noted in Phase 1 that while
all of us had assumed that infrastructure was "the" problem, we needed to look at other issues
also.
Infrastructure, especially telecommunications infrastructure, is indeed a problem for
Native Americans. The digital divide in Native Country runs right through the reservations,
i.e., the main telecommunications artery for the southwest runs parallel with the Rio Grande
River. The telecommunications artery similar to the Silicon Valley is generally referred to as
the Rio Grande Corridor. Along the Rio Grande River are the Pueblos reservations. The RGC
runs through these reservations and there is no access to the lines, even though the lines run right
through their reservations. Lack of infrastructure means that there is no possibility to take
advantage of distance learning and correspondingly, that there is no employment in the
reservations for IT professionals or that employment is compensated at a very low rate.
Perhaps a recent NSF award to EDUCAUSE may provide for Community Centers in the
Native American pueblos. Clearly, the dual issues of accessibility for more of the Native
American population and the increase the human capital of Native Americans in IT are closely
related.
3.1.12. Technology, Race, and Income
On July 6 of 1998 a panel titled Technology, Race, and Income met in Washington,
D.C., with CSPAN coverage, to discuss problems related to low income earning urban
populations, and their knowledge and access to technology. In particular, the high predisposition
to use computers at home generated by acquaintance with computers at school and at work was
cited. As in other panels of this nature, the panelists were more likely to present the problems
and their solutions than to propose a scientific study of the problem. In the meeting it was stated
again that there was a significant gap in underrepresented minority use of technology at work
and at school, which indicated that this lack of access to IT would be transferred to the home
also, thereby reducing automatically the future equalization of economic and educational
opportunities for children of those minorities. The distinguished panel included Charles
Kamasaki of the National Council of La Raza, Hillary Shelton of the NAACP, Hugh Price,
President and CEO of the National Urban League - who had a most interesting support for a
technology opportunity tax credit, a refundable credit for the use of technology -, Roger Lyons,
President and CEO of the Baltimore Urban League, Dong Suh, Spokesman for the Asian Pacific
American Partnership - who apparently is very active in California - and David Honig, Special
Counsel for the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition. The conclusion of a videotape review of the meeting
was that there was more than just a problem with Internet access but also that the overall
information access was a victim of the digital divide.
Availability of a truly personal computer at home or at a dormitory for minorities is
anecdotally different than for non-minorities. However, the really important issue is to have
some availability. Numbers of computers available are just as important as the quality of the use
to which the computers are put. Use of computers just to be connected to the Internet, answering
e-mails, but not learning about new software or through a distance education program is only

partially important. There is also the question of whether the student has to (or wants to) work at
home because of his/her family. Depending on budget and skills, maintaining and upgrading a
personal computer can be a problem.
3.1.13. Balance Between Education and Training
The delicate balance between motivating potential IT workers and enabling them with a
broad vision of the field, also relevant to their long term career path, shows in the close
association and support that industry (in particular Microsoft) provides to the Black Data
Processing Associates (see the good works of BDPA with industry in http://www.bdpa.org and in
organizing their Computer Olympics
The student figures why sit in a class and learn mentioned there also). The issue comes from
the basis of computers without getting the strong attraction of the immediacy of a job
employable skills
Tammy McBeath
(as a Visual Basic programmer or some
software engineering certification for
example) versus the value of an education that goes beyond employment alone, but enables
employment. There is no right or wrong in this issue since it seems more like a balance of
how much to use of each approach. Potential IT workers must be made aware of the possibilities
of professional careers in the field. Industry, because of its personnel needs and its natural
ambitions to succeed in the marketplace puts training emphases on specific software application
products. Industry would like to lead academic institutions to train their students on what they
think is current and hot and they want to sell or use. On the other hand, academic programs
(which take a four- or five-year time frame) like to emphasize what is fundamental and basic to
operate in a social, economic and cultural environment for a longer term than the life of the most
recent software application version release. It must be admitted that the complexity of some of
those products is such that specific training is indispensable for their use. Should the industrial
view of immediacy win over the longer-term cultural and foundational academic view, we would
be subjected to the roller coaster of Let's face it no one is in school because they love
changing products and applications. On the environment. They are looking for employable
the other hand, the fast-moving business skills in market at the best salary possible
world cannot be ignored. The best balance Thomas Taylor
may be to provide potential IT workers
with immediate motivation but give them
a well-crafted vision of the breadth and width of the IT field, if we can master such a broad
vision. The great challenge is to do so within the short attention span that our fast paced
audience provides us. And then later, incorporate industrial products as examples of specific
cases when the basic principles are being taught (say a specific database product when teaching
the subject). This is balancing a general education with specific training. The danger for an IT
worker is that, once caught in the race to maintain job skills up-to-date, there will be no time for
an education that would lead to higher level employment and thus they shortchange their careers.
This problem is exacerbated for minorities, anxious to come into the mainstream of employment
and for industry, wanting to attract them and have them learn their products first. The old saying
that to those who only have a hammer, the whole world looks like a nail is more confusing in
IT where there are thousands of hammers. Balancing these conflicting trends is a major
challenge of IT.

A BDPA Chapter, for example, establishes a training program that is part of the S.I.T.E.S
program (Student Information Technology Education Scholarship). Under this training program
there are three major tracks:

The first is training in Visual Basic. This has two objectives: the first is to provide
students some skills in the IT world that will allow them to get an entry level internship,
the second to allow those interested to compete at the National BDPA High School
Competition.

The second track is to prepare those who show the interest and will stick with it, for
Microsoft Certification.

The third track is to educate students members on e-commerce and work with them in the
development of a business plan that will allow them to launch their own e-commerce
business. They also plan to work with the National Foundation for Teaching
Entrepreneurship.

To meet these goals a Chapter, such as the one in Boston, purchases several computers and
servers. They team up with other organizations such as MassPEP (Massachusetts PreEngineering Program), which is a pre-engineering program that focuses on Math and Science for
minority high school students. Currently they are recruiting students for the first track training
but different chapters have different activities and some are ahead of others in their plans.
3.1.14. High School Computer Competition (HSCC)
The National Black Data Processing Associates (NBDPA) carries out Computer Olympics at
their annual meetings. The most recent one was in Atlanta and 120 HS students participated.
Much could be learned from the HSCCs:

How it has evolved/grown over the years

Communities and high schools that participate

Future prospects

Statistics on the number of participants that have gone into IT college degrees

Some details exist in http://www.bdpa.org/conference/HSCC/hs-competition.htm. The

students competing (no more than 5 students of 9th through 12th grades per chapter) are
A possible outreach program would involve organizing a Computer sponsored by BDPA
which
Olympics, specifically targeted to under-represented minority students and Chapters,
also
sponsor
local
minority institutions
Ricardo Gutierrez-Osuna
community
computer training
camps for area youth during winter and spring months, and select the students to represent them
at the national competition.
3.1.15. Career Selection Process Must be Understood
How do people in underrepresented
minority groups select careers? Any, even minimal,
researched
Those students who had positive
experiences in pre-college years and
were exposed to a subject that grabbed
their interest--stayed on course.
John Hurley

Is there research available on how people,

especially young people in various target
groups,
select
their
careers?
James Coggins

insight into this question would be valuable. Possibly a cost-effective action the field could take
would be to just provide curriculum materials that would show students what IT is like by
providing example problems for them to explore and solve. (Would those curriculum materials
be representative of field work?) This might establish a vision of what IT academic experience
would be like. (It is doubtful that the verbal definition approach would be of much value.) We
have anecdotal evidence that those students who had positive experiences in pre-college years
and were exposed to a subject that grabbed their interest--stayed on course and that for them the
monetary incentive of the career was secondary. As far as information technology also has
engineering
aspects,
we
should
notice
http://www4.nationalacademies.org/nae/NAE.NSF/00051c2a412ea508852565ed000b7b10/64aa1
bbef6883c37852566f7006b7855?OpenDocument which is Bill Wulfs address to the National
Academy of Engineering in 1998. He makes the points that we put the worst face forward (i.e.
the nerd /fool image) and dont talk about or engage students in creative problem solving. He
also states that diversity is an essential element needed for creativity of both the individual and
the community.
Clearly, the question of the right image, the right vision recurs. Also recurring are the
themes of counseling in HS and the lack of understanding by the counselors of how to advise
students. It seems that the path by which students get into IT is less than direct, but even that
seems to work because of the pervasiveness of the field and its wide applications. It seems that a
key to advancing in IT is not so much the exact first career in which the person starts but whether
it is somewhat close to the SMET disciplines.
US Black Engineer and Information Technology magazine publisher Tyrone D. Taborn as
well as publisher of US Hispanic Engineer and IT magazines has created an annual event to help
bridge the digital divide and economic gap by focusing on the vast opportunities in technology
for the Black Family, with information via the Web at www.ccgmag.com. This is a project of the
Foundation for Educational Development. Factors recognized are:
1. African American children are not using computers as they should and are still driving in
the slow lane of the Information Superhighway.
2. The average African American family income is still less than 60% of the average
majority familys.
3. Unemployment rates are twice the national average and the savings rates are among the
lowest of all groups in the USA.

3.2.

Summary of Issues for Topic 2: Teaching K-Ph.D.

3.2.1. Back to Basic Needs: SMET Courses and Native Americans

It has been noticed that most reservation schools dont teach mathematics beyond
Algebra I. Courses not offered include Trigonometry or even Algebra II, and, of course,
Calculus. The tragedy is, that when these students reach college, there seems to be no way to
catch up. If they take make-up classes their first year of college, usually tribal grants wont pay
for those remedial classes. They are always and forever behind. Distance learning classes might
be an answer for students who want these classes but are at a school that doesnt offer them. The
Tribal Colleges are attempting to partially address some of these issues by partnering with local
universities and consortiums, such as the National Computational Science Alliance. The schools

may not be able to have full-time professors at their locations to teach these SMET classes, so
partnering with Universities or other educational institutions that already teach these classes is
one way to address the need. Of course, delivering these classes via distance education brings
the burden of keeping a scarce technical person on their staff. Clearly, these are only partial
solutions. It seems that for Native Americans federal government involvement is essential.
Unfortunately, not all tribes have satisfactory relationships with the corresponding state
government. Treaty obligations give tribes a direct government-to-government relationship with
the federal government, and it is this relationship that holds the most promise of providing
technology solutions to the Indian country. This does not mean that states should not be
involved, nor that private industry should not be tapped to help bring Native American people
(and other minorities) from the back of the technology train to the front. But in the end Native
Americans, practicing a policy of self-determination and self-direction, need resources, and the
place those resources are most likely to come from is through the federal government
relationship, not through the state. Clearly, Native Americans differ in this way from other
minority groups, a question raised in another section. Through the American Indian Higher
Education Consortium (AIHEC), the Presidents of thirty-one tribal colleges are acting in concert
to develop a national strategy to develop the expertise and the computational infrastructure to
become part of the information revolution rather than be victims of that revolution. One of the
goals is to home-grow their expertise. At the same time, partnering with mainstream universities
and industry in order to take their current faculty from where they are currently in their education
and skills, and empower them to build expertise beyond that point through the development of
internships, teaching, and apprenticeship efforts. A clear need is for distance programs at
mainstream universities that can facilitate their current faculty to earn Ph.D. degrees (also with
special funding for their academic work), or, Masters degrees in SMET fields. They will be
faced with the temporary problem of doing without these academic personnel while they attend
to their own development. A major point is that the solution to the digital divide has to come
from the community in partnership with the federal government, private industry, and
mainstream universities. It cannot come unilaterally without involving the communities they
serve. One must point out that teaching mathematics is probably difficult at the best of times,
even when students have the necessary background. One of the better tools for teaching is to
have the students interact and discuss the topic. (Didnt someone wise in education say that
students learn by talking and teachers teach by listening?) The web could help if better tools
were available such as an interactive type of chat that allowed students to discuss K-12
mathematics problems easily. Unfortunately, most of the available software is not easy to use in
that manner (as participants of this Cyberconference have surely noticed.) However, there may
not be a good technology solution to offering math, or other technical topics, without a teacher
on site. Interactive ITV and WWW pages, can favorably supplement teaching but having a
person in situ for these courses is usually better whenever possible. An advanced degree is not
indispensable for teaching beginning courses. Somehow many universities manage to use
instructors with MS degrees going for a graduate education and with a penchant for teaching in
freshman courses. They may compare favorably with some WWW-based courses in which
insufficient time and money has been invested.
3.2.2. Technology and Connectivity; Parental Involvement
The most important use of information technology today is to improve education for all
students, and we have a great opportunity to enhance the ways we think and learn by taking

advantage of computer-based technology (CBT). Electronic education within a connected

learning community in which all students have access to the worlds information through
personal computers, and educators, students, parents, and the community are connected to each
other, should be researched and be an ultimate goal of IT. In this process, educators and parents
must be involved. Business and government entities find it easy to offload increasing amounts of
research on the universities, but they also must take their share of the responsibility. Are there
any aspects that could be investigated/developed where CBT might be particularly beneficial to
underrepresented minorities? How do current minority skill levels compare with those of others
for successful completion of a range of CB technology areas? Will current CBTs have to be
adjusted in special ways for minorities? Is simply using CBTs sufficient to stimulate an interest
in IT areas? New multimedia technologies offer enormous educational possibilities in the
Internet, but technology-capable parents, with the collaboration of their employers, could help
the teachers learn how to take full advantage of it. Learning to use computers to support
classroom instruction is daunting for many classroom teachers, and is just as important as having
the hardware available and functioning. There is a need to study this problem and identify ways
to provide the support in-service teachers need to become competent in (1) using computer
hardware, (2) using software, and (3) integrating this technology into instruction in meaningful
ways. Model approaches are needed for the national solution of these problems. There is some
anecdotal evidence of some good results from in-service courses from the University of
Minnesota-Duluth. No less important is involving parents with the skill levels in the training, for
those who can, but there is also the aspect of training those parents who have no idea what their
elementary school children are talking about when they come home at night and tell their parents
what wonderful things they can do with technology. Some Houston, TX, schools have gone to
an extended day (until 8pm) for parent instruction. Similarly, Wright State University College of
Engineering has a pre-college Science, Technology, and Engineering Preparation Program where
involvement of parents of inner city 7th. to 10th. graders is required at orientation meetings and
at career awareness workshops where they learn about the program, engineering careers, and
opportunities for their children if they choose engineering or computer science as a major. All
parents attend because the scholarship for their child depends on them being supportive.
3.2.3. Well Applied, Relevant, CBTs can help Minorities
The CBTs are a great help in teaching technology, but just making them available, i.e.,
distributing through an Internet web site, isnt the answer. Were it as simple as that, then the
rural schools, as most urban schools, would be able
Students simply do not see the urgency in
to participate in all the technology available today.
developing proficient computer skills
But it isnt that simple. For the most impact and
Craig Evans
acceptance, and for impressionable and acceptable
usage it is suggested that CBT web pages be
relevantly customized to include appropriate motifs and icons, including stories that can be used
by the student to relate the project to his/her experiences. This design could also include a log
area at the end of each page, which would include a section that would help the student write
how each exercise is relevant and could be used in his/her environment. It may take some help
from the instructor for the student to take it back home, to see the relevance of such as for
example pointing out that to design their VR model, they had to formulate the contents, the
process, and the actions for their model to work. If they were modeling a pasture, they would
have to design the fence, decide what materials are needed, decide how much was needed, and

where it was going. Can they take that knowledge back home and use it? Of course. When
looking at the benefits that technology brings to education, research is needed on how learners of
different ethnic, sociological, geographic, and economic groups can take best advantage of it to
learn and assimilate information.
3.2.4. On Recognition of Teaching and on Teaching Minorities
Several of the problems in valuing teaching vs. research and publications are present in
predominantly minority institutions as well as they are in most other institutions. Unfortunately,
but their results are even more devastating in those institutions. This is because it discourages
faculty from paying attention to the primary function of any educational institution. What makes
the issue most tantalizing is that this is in fact imposed most of the time by the faculty Promotion
and Tenure Committees. Why is it that we, as a community of professors, do not seem to be able
to give proper recognition and rewards to good teaching but find it easier to justify rewards for
research dollars or publications? Is it because grants and publications are easier to quantify than
good teaching? Perhaps we should consider more awards involving teaching issues/methods in
IT, particularly where underrepresented minorities are concerned. However, in institutions using
a seniority pay scale (often negotiated by powerful unions, as is the case at many public K-12
schools) the rewards for quality/productivity in teaching/research are irrelevant. It would be
interesting to understand minority attendance to 2-year (where research is minimal and teaching
loads are high) vs. 4-year institutions.
3.2.5. Comparative Cost of SMET Curricula
If we compare the cost of IT and related SMET courses with other programs such as Law
Enforcement, we not only have the cost of expensive teachers for CS, but we do not require
expensive laboratories, just classroom space for Law Enforcement. Yet tuition and other creditbased sources are similar. Faced with this dilemma, a minority institution with meager
resources, faces hiring the right faculty for a Law Enforcement program vs. hiring the right
faculty and building appropriate physical science *and* a computing laboratory infrastructure for
a Computer Science program. It is difficult to criticize institutions for having meager SMET
infrastructures when they are living on the edge of paying current expenses. Can we require
differential tuition and subsidy for expensive SMET courses?
3.2.6. "The Pipeline" - The Graduate School Branch
One of the real declines in IT is in the number of students applying for graduate work
during a booming technical economy. The OGI Graduate School has established a web site that
attempts to explain the basics about Graduate School. The site in intended as a resource for the
Computer Science Community and they welcome feedback and suggestions for improvement.
To attract new graduate students it is also suggested to schedule an evening with home current
graduate students and members of your faculty with graduating seniors to whom such
information and opportunities in grad school are presented. These modest steps may help in
disseminating information rather than just lamenting the lack of enrollment.
3.2.7. Distance Education
Internet Courses for Advance Placement - It seems that Universities are using the Internet
mostly as a backup and supplement to classroom instruction, but not as a stand-alone teaching

tool. While at present stand-alone Internet courses are still crude, there is no question that they
could be improved possibly to the point of competing with classroom courses if enough attention
is paid to them (this is particularly true in value judgement areas like Business Administration
but not so easy to implement in technical areas!). In particular, they would help tremendously in
continuing education and lifelong learning. If minorities lacked access, greater disparity would
occur.
3.2.8. Selection of IT Careers by Capable Minority Candidates
Selection or encouragement of candidates for IT in post secondary school is often done
by testing candidates or sampling IT students for interest in the computing and information
sciences. Students enroll in introductory classes in HS or after on basic computer concepts, and
often selection of the future major was strongly influenced by such introduction, although no one
is denied the opportunity to choose any major. While the success of the students in those
introductory classes is high, their retention for choice of a career is not. Unfortunately the
presentations in such classes are not the most inspiring and the textbooks do not cover what the
students consider exciting topics such as developing web pages, networking, and popular
programming languages like JAVA. Recruiters and companies look for these skills in potential
employees and the perception of the students is that those are important skills in gaining
employment. The influence of employers in attracting students to IT is real, and they should
have their say in curricula that include the skills needed for employment to maintain interest and
retention in IT.
3.2.9. Relevancy and Education
Relevancy means that the students can incorporate their academic experience within a
related direct personal experience in their lives. Teachers and professors, who teach how to
learn, think, and apply research
skills, and who inflame the students The teachers and professors, who taught me how to
imagination do more for them than learn, think, and apply research skills, and who inflamed
any particular course of study. my imagination did more for me than any particular
Thomas Taylor
However, we do not emphasize those course of study.
aspects in classical education. We
need to teach the students how to leverage scholastic skills to change with the times and learn on
their own in their lifelong learning path.
It is unfortunate that some influential educators, such as a past Secretary of Education
and author, William J Bennett, in his book The Educated Child, do not include information
technology, even at a literacy level, among the desired topics except briefly as classroom
enrichment. Other classical areas of knowledge discussed in that book were English, History,
Geography, Art, Music, Mathematics, and Science. Mr. Bennett seems to believe that computer
literacy should not be a fundamental subject until the middle school years at best. In fact, he felt
it would be distracting until a student formed critical thinking skills from a strong core
curriculum. Since many elementary schools are using computers, research is needed to answer
definitively the question of where is the most appropriate point in the K - 12 continuum to begin
the introduction of IT skills and to foster the motivation to pursue this area as a basic skill for all
students capable of handling lifelong learning and a rapidly changing technology.

Because the subject is still relatively new in the classroom and for many teachers, it is not
being incorporated except as an educational tool and only in those environments where the
facilities exist. The result is that many students are not even aware that careers in computing are
an option in their lives and that they may have the prerequisite education (or can acquire it) to
become part of the IT industry as a professional. It is not too early at grade school to show the
relevancy to their own culture, future and community development of such important subject.
This is particularly true in minority settings where the facilities do not support other uses of
computers even as purely educational tools.

3.3.

Summary of Issues for Topic 3: Research

3.3.1. U.S. citizens and Minorities in Graduate School

There is a clear trend to go into industry and not to graduate school, at least not on a full
time basis, for citizens of the U.S. This trend is particularly exacerbated by the industrial needs
in a thriving economy, and especially in the SMET disciplines to the point that we could think
that we are eating our seed corn. We see high-school graduates who have beginners
knowledge of the field, being lured to industry. How far can their self-education carry them?
How much remediation will they need later on? A model for Graduate School cooperative
education is being designed and considered successful at Georgia Tech. The impetus to attend
graduate school is helped by an economic incentive for US students where the equivalent salary
of BS in industry equals a fellowship plus co-op opportunity. It seems that the factors are
economic and the pressures are social. Many employers pay tuition while the students go to
school on their own time, so why should the students pay out of their own pocket when it seems
that they could both work and go to school part time? The problem is that working a good eight
hours and going to school afterwards is very difficult and the practical experience gained is
sometimes lost in lower academic performance. Social pressures (marriage, young children, and
the ambitions of upscale living, among others) discourage the monastic life of a graduate student.
The worst trend is that employers are now luring high school students who know some
computing (minorities and not) to go to work, thereby shortchanging future opportunities. How
can universities compete? Does it make sense to try to subsidize industry to give time off to
graduate students so that they co-op and go to school? At the University of New Mexicos Albuquerque High Performance Computing Center both undergraduate and graduate student
Research Assistants (RAs) are hired to directly addresses the retention problem. The hiring
process rewards the students as they get higher in their education. Undergraduates receive a
small per hour wage, the Masters level students receive a higher per hour wage and the Ph.D.
students get the best wage. In that manner, they are rewarded the more they advance
academically. Also with a 20-hr/week workload, they are not overloaded with work and can
concentrate on their studies. Graduate fees and full tuition are covered while they are RAs, and
during the summer they are hired for 40 hrs/week, thus keeping them for the following semester
without worrying if they will return. However, there is the question of numbers. How many
students can we afford to employ? Even with such incentives, there is a significant dropout in
going from the undergraduate to the graduate level. Potential graduate school students go to
businesses. While working at the Albuquerque Supercomputing Center looks great on the
students resume, it cannot compete with the National Laboratories in NM and large business
enterprises. If the students become excited about their research in the graduate program, then

they usually complete the MS and Ph.D. program.

undergraduate degree is another challenge altogether.

Getting them to continue after an

It has been pointed out that, even if all the available seed corn were planted, we would,
as a nation, still face the big problem gleaned from the Taulbee Survey data. For the years 19901997, sixty-six African American Ph.D. degrees were awarded in computer science and
engineering, which translates to an average of 9.4 per year. Even if all of these went into
academic careers, at most, nine out of the several hundred possible departments could hire a new
faculty member who was African American. As it is, 90 percent go into industry (see The
Supply of Information Technology Workers in the United States from the CRA) so realistically
only one department per year could be hiring. For Hispanics, the numbers are somewhat more
promising, although still proportionately low. For the years 1990-1997, the Taulbee Survey
reported 123 Hispanic Ph.D. degrees awarded in computer science and engineering, which
translates to 17.6 per year, on average. Still, even if all of these went into academia, only 17
departments could be hiring them. For Native Americans, the situation is not good. For those
years for which the Taulbee Survey reports Ph.D. degrees awarded in CSE to Native Americans,
1993-1997, the total number was 6, or 1.5 per year on average.
3.3.2. Is it rewarding to go to Graduate School in IT?
When recruiting minority students for Ph.D. study in CS, it is hard to explain why a
student should go to school for an additional five years and then - as a faculty member - typically
earn about the same that he or she could earn now with a BS. We could stress to the student the
fundamental beauty and exciting new interest of the fields, in contrast to motivating graduate
study through communicating practical value to industry. If one is going to make CS research
ones lifes work, it is best if one really enjoys it! And, since academia will have to compete with
industry for Ph.D. graduates for the foreseeable future, we should be looking at ways to bring
academic salaries at least into the same ballpark. One way to do this, if industry understands the
seed corn argument, is for industry to fund substantial endowments for CS departments at
minority institutions where they seek employees. However, appealing to prospective students on
the basis of the satisfaction, expertise, and in-depth knowledge that comes from graduate study
alone, has not been successful in every case. It is hard to compete with big bucks and the
freedom (from the hard and seemingly unrewarding work that is graduate study) that industry has
to offer. Most likely, there is no silver bullet solution to this problem. We must use a variety
of approaches, some of which have already been identified in this dialog.
Perhaps the long-term solution requires for us to learn how to stimulate a renewal of
curiosity and a thirst for knowledge among pre-college students. It seems that many students
begin to work before college, they begin to have good money, a car, etc. and they (wrongly)
think they do not need to study anymore. Work has to be done among pre-college students to
open their eyes to a vision of their own future personal development. Humans are innately
curious, but at times are taught not to delve deeply into a topic. Curiosity, the first key to do
research, needs to be nurtured and celebrated. The survival instinct tends to overshadow
curiosity as one matures, which is contrary to the fact that to do research one requires free time
to think. This is not possible if one is concentrating on surviving. Understanding that one could
survive is influential in deciding to pursue a Ph.D. degree. Perhaps curiosity cant be taught but
when it exists it can be stifled by poverty, hunger, and indifference. For those who are curious in

their early years, steps must be taken to encourage, promote, nurture curiosity which when
fulfilled, probably leads to more curiosity -- to paraphrase, weve got to begin at a very early age.
The type of person who has traditionally enjoyed research had a persevering nature and
was capable of conducting one failed experiment after another until finally getting the theory and
the experiment right. Leaders in modern corporations, on the other hand, typically have very
short planning horizons, and academic administrators are not far behind corporate America in
this regard. It is now often difficult (particularly in CS/CE) to distinguish between academic
research and industrial research. This trend is exacerbated somewhat by the emphasis of funding
agencies on incremental results. Because there is a proper and large engineering component to
computer science, it is easy to fall into the short-term technology trap. Because universities are
being forced to run more like businesses, we are seeing similar trends there. How do we interest
young people in general, and minorities in particular, in research careers? Some suggestions are:

Find or nurture people who are not deterred by repeated failures before achieving a
success.

Help universities distinguish academic research from industrial research. e.g. - figure out
what it is that Lazlo Lovasz can do at Microsoft that he cant do at Yale.

Develop some laudable national or global goals that require long-term research - e.g.,
putting a person on the moon, feeding the hungry, clean air, etc.

Develop and deploy some charismatic proselytizers.

3.3.3. Affirmative Development

A recent report of the College Board promotes an Affirmative Development campaign
(see http://www.collegeboard.com/press/html9900/html/991017.html). The most surprising
result of this study was that the socioeconomic level was not a factor for underrepresentation of
minorities among high achievers. The underrepresentation occurred at all socioeconomic levels
of students. In other words, contrary to expectations, underrepresented minorities at low
socioeconomic levels were not less present than those at high levels among top performers. Of
course, this does not say anything about average or below average performers. The report
recommends:

Supporting efforts in primary and secondary schools, including the development of a

common database of resources, information, and promising intervention strategies.

Organizing a consortium of colleges and universities to promote and evaluate the use of
promising approaches for helping underrepresented minority students achieve at higher
levels.

Forming collaborations with community organizations, religious groups, and minority

associations outside of the school setting to ensure that they promote high achievement
through supplemental educational opportunities among young people in their
communities.

Promoting additional research projects to understand the causes and dynamics of

academic underachievement in some groups of minority students - which is what we are
doing in this Cyberconference.

Convening a multi-disciplinary panel of experts to continue exploring new ways to

improve achievement among minority students.

While the emphasis of the report is on high achievers, because they are visualized as
leaders and role models, these approaches should hold also for minorities at all other levels of
achievement.
3.3.4. The Pipeline Model and Its Implications for Minorities with Undergraduate Degrees
A Workshop on Increasing Participation of Minorities in the Computing Disciplines
took place at the Airlie Center in Airlie, VA, on May 4-7, 1995, under the chairmanship of Bryant
W. York. The conference was preceded by a set of position papers submitted by the participants.
One of the concepts discussed was the comparison of the education of minorities to a leaky
pipeline. The pipeline is looked upon as the sequential feed-through of the educational system
from kindergarten to doctoral programs (K-Ph.D.). In particular, the questions addressed relate
to what are the social, cultural, and educational factors that may be brought to bear to stop the
leakage of underrepresented minority human capital. Much has happened since (or has it not?)
but the prospect of a wider pipeline is not forthcoming. While we dont have undergraduate
enrollment figures or know the career choices of current secondary and elementary school
children, we can only hope that the pipeline is already fuller in the earlier years, although the
lack of an upward trend in the Taulbee report numbers for graduates would suggest otherwise. If
it is the case that the pipeline remains yet to be made fuller, and if contributors to this
Cyberconference are correct in saying that critical support needs to come as early as the first
years of primary education, then we wont see significant increases in the minority population of
potential IT leaders for about twenty years. Thats the best-case condition assuming the steps we
take now are effective. This suggests consideration of a significant effort to encourage older
members of minority groups already with undergraduate degrees to return for graduate study in
IT. Such a policy, if successful, would create new within-community IT leaders in five or six
years instead of 20.
The output of the Pipeline has already run dry based on the statistics from the Bureau
of Labor Statistics which estimated a 118% increase expected from 1996 to 2006 in demand for
database administrators, computer-support specialists and computer scientists, particularly when
compared to the data from ACT which indicated 4% of 1999 ACT-tested graduates planning will
go into computer and information science. Of the 53 million children in K-12, some 47 million
attend public school. Only 1 in 9 are enrolled in private schools or about 2% of the population.
Since in 9 out of 10 cases, non-minority students (88%) attend public schools and that typical
public school student is the middle-class child who makes up the large majority (64%) of
enrollment, the reality is that K-12 school failure crosses all racial, ethnic, religious and
socioeconomic lines, affecting every area. Universities and colleges of engineering/information
science and computer science need to redesign the K-12 educational pipeline by implementing
across-the-board pre-engineering/pre-information technology/pre-PC summer programs and
camps to refill the pipeline from a dismal 4% to a value that equates better to demand, say 15 to
20%. Failure to properly educate American youth has forced us to rely on the outside world for
technical expertise. Much of Corporate America is raiding the seed corn as a naturally selfish
knee-jerk response to a larger underlying socio-educational problem which begs to be fixed.

3.3.5. Who will lead from within our communities?

Although the prospect of encouraging older members of minority groups to return for
graduate study has potential, it poses the problem that once theyve been out for a number of
years, it is much harder to return: family and work responsibilities, financial commitments,
severe financial sacrifice, eroded technical skills, and so forth. However, there may be a
possibility to recruit minorities into the field of technology such as the military or from less
advanced positions in industry, if they have the necessary talents and incentives. It would seem
more likely that people already with baccalaureate or AS degrees in IT could be encouraged to
continue their education.
3.3.6. References and priorities
Some references that contribute to the knowledge base of understanding how technology
affects/operates along gender and ethnic lines in academia:

Spotts, T., Bowman, M.A., & Mertz, C. (1997). Gender and use of instructional
technologies: A study of university faculty in Higher Education, 34, 421-436.

Okpala, A.O., & Okpala, C.O. (1997 December). Faculty Adoption of Educational
Technologies in Higher Learning in the Journal of Instructional Psychology, 24(4), 26267.

Rifkin, J., Technology and the African American Experience in The End of Work: The
Decline of the Global Labor Force and the Dawn of the Post-market Era, New York: G.P.
Putnams Sons, 1995. Book chapter (outside the context of higher education).

Higher Education seems like a very male and white oriented environment, particularly in
administration. How does one find out the most effective approaches to diversify Higher
Education -and other educational environment- throughout the nation, particularly in IT and
SMET topics? The emphases are on prioritizing what would have the greatest impact and on
determining the methodologies to get there.
There seems to be a significant group of knowledgeable people who believe that the socalled Digital Divide is due primarily to socioeconomic causes and is much less due to race
and ethnicity. However, the
The so-called Digital Divide is due primarily to socioCollege Board study cited
economic causes and is much less due to race and ethnicity.
elsewhere, indicated that the
On many occasions since, others have expressed the same
underrepresentation
among
belief.
Mario Gonzalez
high achievers by minorities
was the same across all
socioeconomic boundaries. This does not mean that the same is true for the digital divide but
it raises some interesting research questions.
From PBSs Digital Divide we quote: Computers are increasingly conditioning the
kind of country we live in. DIGITAL DIVIDE shines a light on the role computers play in
widening social gaps throughout our society, particularly among young people. By providing
equitable and meaningful access to technology we can ensure that all children step into the 21st
Century together.

Studio Miramar produced this video, titled Digital Divide, for the Independent
Television Service (ITVS) with funds provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
There
are
four
sections
of
the
corresponding
WWW
home
frame
(http://www.pbs.org/digitaldivide/) referring to the classroom, to gender, to race and to work.
Each of the four sections has three parts: one dealing with a simple interactive quiz, another with
interviews of some four people relevant to the topic, and a third one is a set of web references.
Some of the issues covered in this Cyberconference are mentioned and others are not even
considered. The program will be aired on January 28, 2000.

3.4.

Summary of Issues for Topic 4: Mentoring

3.4.1. Who and How Many? How do we scale up? Who can mentor? What is a critical
mass for peer mentoring? The efficiency of peer mentoring
Peer mentoring, among the non-traditional forms of mentoring, has a crucial role to play
in supporting minorities, as exemplified by support from experienced members of the same or
different ethnic group. (A peer is simply someone who has a close rapport with a mentee and is
considered on the same or a slightly higher academic level. Student-to-student mentoring is peer
I found a great benefit from peer-mentoring. In mentoring, just as faculty-to-faculty. If
1991, I participated in the Summer Research the students can develop a personal,
caring, and responsible relationship
Opportunity Program
Quelina Jordan
then peer mentoring can occur.) The
University of Texas at El Paso has
obtained good results with peer teaming and mentoring. For schools that dont have significant
numbers of graduate students from underrepresented minorities, the graduate experience is
probably awfully lonely (see below). Yet it would be an unacceptable policy to steer students
only to schools that already have significant numbers of minority students. It is important to
note that one can have more than one mentor. Each mentor can serve a different purpose. In
some instances, the mentor may or may not be in the same department or program. It seems that
the mentor should be someone who cares and has high expectations for the mentee. Someone
who can be supportive of the best interests of the student and the community even without
necessarily enabling them. It is worth remembering, however, that all mentoring is not positive.
Issues like thriving vs. survival in the mentees organization/environment could certainly
be mentored by someone in a different specialty/department. And it may actually be healthier for
the student to have a collection of mentors for different purposes so that the student doesnt feel
totally dependent on a particular teacher or administrator. A common difficulty is figuring out if
the students problem is more serious than simply his/her lack of confidence.
Could an organization or center be started to handle mentoring via e-mail? A group of
capable and possibly trained mentors would have to be available. How could we possibly certify
the qualifications of a mentor? How do we evaluate what makes a good mentor? And then, if
we knew that, could we possibly grow good mentors! Mentoring requires fairly intense
interaction between the mentor and the mentee. The problem is that there are simply not enough
mentors available to make a significant impact, which is particularly true if mentors must be of
the same ethnicity/sex as the mentee. How can we deal with this issue? The womens groups
have instituted a distributed mentoring system that uses email plus summer visits. The
minorities case may be even harder.

Some of the goals in mentoring are to provide information, support, and guidance and
that is different at different levels. On the Ph.D. level, most of this support has to do with
teaching someone how to do research and how to thrive in an academic environment. The
information part can be done by email. The trust part, which develops the relationship, has to be
done in person. Additionally, there are a host of habits to be learned by just seeing them occur.
3.4.2. Isolation of Minority Students
It is reported that underrepresented minorities have a sense of cultural isolation in nonminority institutions. Some of it could be alleviated with minority news groups and reaching out
to other minorities, possibly not in the same major or career-path, to receive encouragement or
special personal advice. (One such newsletter is the Minority Leaders Newsletter published by
The Multicultural Advantage with its web site at http://www.tmaonline.net. Another list is the
Minority Internet and Technology Professionals or MITP at www.mitp.net or www.mitp.org.)
Few institutions (especially graduate degree granting) have a critical mass of underrepresented
graduate students to develop a strong peer mentoring system. Thus, if peer mentoring were to
take place on site it would have to involve some cross ethnic mentoring. Of course, electronic
peer mentoring can bridge part of this gap - at least for some learners. Associated questions are:
Are there documented examples of successful electronic peer mentoring? Is there research
documented or being carried out evaluating the success of this approach? Might there be
mentors who can actually work their magic through the Internet?
3.4.3. Can we teach/learn how to be a mentee or mentor?
A Mentoring Course: The traditional role of faculty has been to teach and advise students.
Mentoring is different and more important than either of these roles, particularly when it comes
to increasing the number of minorities in Information Science and Technology. In general,
faculty are already overburdened, and especially at public schools in the inner city and at
Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). An approach to consider is that of
designing a one credit hour course for mentoring students majoring in an area of Information
Science and Technology. Students should be assigned homework to:
1. research their career areas of interest,
2. research general issues in the field of Information Science and Technology,
3. find what the opportunities are for career growth and personal development in IT,
and other similar questions. This could provide for structured mentoring, thereby ensuring that
all students are mentored to some extent without adding significantly to the workload of faculty.
Associated questions are: Is there a place for such a course in the public schools, if so at which
grade level(s)? Is there a place for such a course in undergraduate curricula, if so at which level?
Would the cost be prohibitive? How could costs be mitigated? Can the issue of academic
quality/content be satisfied for awarding one credit hour for this kind of activity?
As we discuss how to mentor, we should consider how to be a mentee. How is one
prepared to be a mentee? Is there something in the educational process that can prepare people
to take advice from who could be a total stranger? How does one choose/trust a Mentor? Could
this be incorporated in an orientation/boot-camp program?

3.4.4. Motivational Mentoring/Career Guidance?

If we are to succeed in our goal of increasing the number of underrepresented minority
students pursuing professional careers and/or graduate studies in Information Science and
Technology we need better motivational mentoring for K-12 students and for undergraduate
students. Students are well motivated when they understand how their studies pertain to
practical problems and issues in industry. This understanding enables them to evaluate their
progress toward a professional career. K-12 students should have exposure (if only discussions)
to the types of problems they might encounter at an undergraduate level. Undergraduate students
should have exposure to practical problems that are encountered in industry and/or graduate
studies. This exposure can be in the form of informal discussions: one-on-one or small groups,
seminars, field trips, or internships. What role would professionals in industry play? What role
would faculty at the graduate or undergraduate level play? Which technology issues could be
motivational as well as inspirational for the targeted students?
3.4.5. Apprenticeship and Mentoring
Student or Research Assistants are, in a sense, mentees who should be subject to positive
comments and proper guidance on their efforts. With some additional care, the teaching/research
assistants can be apprentices to whom we can provide additional insights and understanding
about the field of Information Science Technology. This is not unique to underrepresented
minorities, but it applies there with more impact when we emphasize attracting and retaining
minorities in the IT workforce. In addition to Work Study, Internships, Student Grader, Teaching
or Research Assistants, there are other similar activities where a student can serve as an
apprentice, thereby gaining practical experiences under the guidance of a professional in the field
of Information Science. Is there a sufficient number of apprenticeships/internships available?
How could additional funding be provided to support this kind of activity and give it a mentoring
flavor?
3.4.6. Mentoring Minorities to Graduate School through REUs
Getting undergraduates involved in research (Research Experiences for Undergraduates)
is one of the ways to get minority and women students directly involved in faculty research
projects. Such a program is supported at Ohio State by the GE Faculty for the Future fund,
and one of its keys is that there are faculty incentives: modest discretionary funds and free
undergraduate research assistants. It has resulted in nearly all of the participants ending up at
least seriously considering going to graduate school (most applying with an edge because they
have been involved in research already). This is one way to overcome the perceived cost to
faculty to get involved in mentoring. While it doesnt immediately solve the problem of not
having minority faculty to do the actual mentoring, it potentially helps with that in the long run,
because it makes it more likely that minority undergraduates go on to graduate school, and then
to faculty positions (see http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/diversity/).
While mentoring and REUs provide encouragement to go to graduate school, some of the
nurturing that takes place in a small school may not fully prepare students for the impersonal,
sink or swim climates of large graduate programs. Nevertheless, surveyed respondents who
encountered this situation were still able to get advice from their undergraduate mentors as to
how to persist in the program. We could benefit from the input of some of the recipients of the
AAAS and White House Mentor Awards. We can probably gain considerable insight from

mentees from successful programs like the one at Rice University and the Meyerhoff Program at
the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
3.4.7. The Pyramid of Mentoring
At Rice University, an approach called the pyramid of mentoring is used. The senior
graduate students mentor those more junior, and the junior graduate students mentor the
undergraduates. The role of the faculty mentor is to go in on an as-needed basis when this
structure needs intervention. Sometimes this is with the student directly, and sometimes it is as
an advocate with either departments or administration. This is an extremely important part of
Rices retention program. This program was evaluated by the UW-Madisons LEAD Center two
years ago, and the report may be found at
http://www.crpc.rice.edu/CRPC/newsArchive/sas_eval.html.
The Pyramid approach distributes the mentoring load. A person who needs or wants help
needs the solution while the source of the solution, as long as it is a good one, isnt as important.
The law students at Northeastern also use a pyramid of mentoring approach that has worked well
for at least 10 years.
3.4.8. Research on Mentoring in Academia
It is a fact that there are, in general, not enough minorities to provide serious mentorship
at major institutions. Is it wrong to presume that only a person of the same ethnicity can serve as
a mentor? The presence of minorities, few as they are, in professional life or educational
institutions could be seen as indicating that either some mentoring has occurred or that, if the
minority student has not been exposed to mentoring prior to enrolling in a graduate or Ph.D.
program, he or she has already become fairly self-sufficient. The concept of seeking out a
mentor for assistance and guidance may be alien and somewhat repugnant to some in that it
might imply that person needs assistance. Even when mentoring is offered, the student may not
realize that the intent is genuine and usually needed. What are the views of the students?
Research on mentoring so far has been studying the instances of successful mentor/mentee (those
who have successfully completed their programs and gone on to visibly successful careers) and
anecdotal success stories, but we should also study those former students who reached a level
where they should have succeeded but failed. An example of such an instance may be where a
percentage of course requirements plus GPA would normally predict a high probability of
success. Yet the student has dropped out of the program or is ABD. We should investigate failed
cases, possibly due to a lack of mentoring, including the percentage of students who have
completed all the requirements for advanced degrees except for the completion of a thesis or
dissertation. This is not just a minority issue, but it would help to determine what effect
mentoring had on the academic experience of the students on a comparative basis.
3.4.9. Mentoring as a Topic of Research
Which mentoring techniques work best at the undergraduate and which at the graduate
levels? In Computer Science mentoring is often combined with tutoring and with help sessions
in the core IT courses, lectures in time management, and in remedial work. At the graduate level
mentoring is frequently combined with help in improving communication skills and creating
plans of studies including selecting thesis and dissertation topics. Peer mentoring by advanced
minority students together with the right faculty could provide a structure to mentoring to those

new students entering the programs. An objective study of the efficacy of mentoring methods
could provide help to students and mentors alike. Objectivity and generalizations are difficult
because successful mentoring requires balancing the personalities of mentor and mentee. Most
of the time this balance happens in a natural, haphazard, and less than organized way. It is not
easy to project the most effective and efficient way to do mentoring. There are too many
variables in the equation to be able to provide a ready-made solution. Empirical research of
mentoring, while difficult to conduct, is important. Given its importance to IT manpower
development, it might include a study of any particular characteristics of IT mentees that relate to
special mentor attributes. A how-to handbook would be difficult for the encouraging, you-cando-it type of mentoring. The quality of the relationship between the mentor/mentee is a critical
factor. Trust is fundamental. How do you teach that? Yet some analysis of the mentoring
practices most successful with underrepresented groups would be very helpful.
3.4.10. Study Mentoring in a Social Context
Mentoring is best described by keeping track of the emotion that an advisor evokes in the
mentee after different types of interactions. Beyond the understanding obtained by coldly
analyzing the facts, there is need to understand the emotions after interactions, and consequently
the support felt or not felt. That emotional context can only be fully understood by
understanding who the mentor and mentee are as persons, and what is the environment in which
they operate.
Observation: Individual Mentoring occurs in the context of larger social dynamics
Proposal: Study how people close to the mentee affect the mentoring process.
Validation by a peer group of advice given by a mentor is extremely helpful within a
mentoring relationship An advisors suggestion for a plan of action and sharing it with the
mentees peer group (people with similar goals who support the suggested plan) results in a
healthy complementary pull/lead by the advisor and the push/support of the peer group. What
other social dynamics facilitate the mentoring process is definitely a research question for the
social sciences.
Mentoring is essential for guiding minorities, particularly when the students dont get
guidance, advice or support from parents or siblings. It seems essential to advise these students
of the hurdles they need to surpass, such as the disadvantage of competing with others whose
background is stronger when entering a majority school, to restore the self-confidence that is
crushed when trying to compete with such students, to advise them that there may be a gap that
requires taking remedial classes, and that such is not due to the individuals lack of intelligence.
3.4.11. Can Mentoring be Successful in Any Kind of Institution?
While research-oriented institutions concentrate on rewarding the influx of grants and
awards, the question is raised with regard to whether institutions not oriented toward research
can take the mentoring idea forward in place of putting emphasis on research. It turns out that
the dichotomy is not so simple. Many institutions, which would not be considered research
universities, end up rewarding research and others recognized as research institutions emphasize
mentoring and minority enhancement programs. No university would ever admit that they *do
not care about human development* even if they are indifferent to issues of mentoring. But
often the tenure and promotion process, carried out by faculty, is where the neglect takes place.

Could we imagine a line in a Promotion and Tenure application form that reads: Explain how
you have mentored and thus contributed to the human development of the students you advise?
The fact is that the incentives to mentoring in our universities are few or non-existent. Faculty
members do it only because they feel that it will benefit the student - they know full well that
promotions and tenure are unaffected by it. However, universities react promptly to incentives
by government funding sources and such could be used to promote change.
A topic of interest in the research sociology of IT would be to find out why some
graduate students continue into research careers and others dont. What are the factors that
influence this? How does the environment affect the decision?
3.4.12. Methods of Mentoring
There are many ways to accomplish mentoring and motivating students. For example,
job shadowing allows an IT Professional working in the field to mentor a minority HS/College
by demonstrating on-the-job examples of various assignments in the field at the rate of a day a
week for 10 weeks; paid internships or co-op programs for the summer allow students to interact
on a hands on basis to apply theory learned in the classroom; and, computer camps, established
at various colleges where the IT professionals can interact with potential minority students trying
to learn more about the IT field. There is a question, so far unresolved, about the most desirable
ethnicity or gender and what can be done if a mentor of the same minority group or gender is not
available (we may not have enough mentors!). There is need to make the connection between
the students interests in employment and corporate expectations. Unfortunately, at times this
leads more to training than to education. But mentoring by industrial professionals can give a
different perspective for the student from where to choose and increase interest and retention in
IT. Variants of the paid internship and co-op
There are technologically inept mentors programs, such as computer clubs, may provide
for the next generation as we continue to important experiences to the students. While jobexpect technological competence from the related issues are important, they should not
mentee.
Heidi Lovett
totally overshadow relevancy; this means that
the students are able to incorporate their academic
experience to a related direct personal experience
in their lives. There were some other previous comments with regard to the use of graphics in a
Native American school that addressed this subject. Relevancy is necessary, even possibly
indispensable, to make the learning taking place be remembered by its meaningfulness to the
student. The idea of jobs and the job market does not hurt in motivation, but at times it is like
chasing rabbits in an ever-changing technology like IT. The examples of Computer Olympics
by the BDPA above can also provide a motivational and retentive experience.
Mentoring on campus is typically limited by the realities that many professors, under
heavy teaching loads, dont have the time to devote, in addition to teaching, to reaching out to
the students and spending additional time on campus clubs. External business or technical
organizations supplement campus life with outreach/give back programs and projects.

It may be counterproductive to expect that a mentor must be of the same minority group
or sex. In a world
individuals in the corporate environment have been told all their lives of IT majorities it
that the pathway to success is having a good mentor. However, when it may be a good
comes to dealing with race and gender there seems to be a problem for experience to be
individuals in finding a mentor. I don't think we should limit who is mentored by one of
mentor by the fact that they are not of the same racial group or gender of them if it leads to
the individual that is seeking help. The IT world is still a world that is learning how to be
dominated by white males, and those of us who are of color are going to effective in that
have to learn how to operate effectively in that world to be successful. We world. A part of it
are going to have to understand how to ask for and accept help in any is to find out how to
form or shape it comes in. We need to teach our students that it is ok to ask for and accept
ask for assistance because that is the way to learn help when needed
Timothy Wilson
to learn new things.
Teach that to learn
(or to be mentored!) one has to ask for help from anyone, regardless of sex or race. There are
just not enough minority or women mentors to go around and cross-boundary mentoring breaks
down some of the barriers in a pragmatic way.
IT can promote itself and serve in mentoring at the same time. On-line courses, seminars
and workshops that the students can access enables them to find out what kinds of opportunities
exist in the field. any students (and faculty) still do not have a full appreciation for what IT is or
involves.
3.4.13. Financial Goals and Realities
It has been pointed out that while there is a strong financial motivation in many career
choices, it is not the only, and at times not even the strongest motivation. Although everybody
has corporate expectations, not everybody goes to school or chooses their career with the sole
intention of making the most money from it. If that were the case, there would not be Music,
Anthropology, or History of Arts.
Even in internships and co-op programs, while they are important, the student does not
always have to get paid in order to have a valuable experience. Computer clubs at Universities
can also be a beneficial Let's face it, the majority of our students can't afford
experience, particularly if other internships that don't pay...... and this isn't just to have
internships or co-op programs spending money, but to legally purchase the tools needed to
are not available, as it allows one stay in the computer game...
Bonnie Bracey
significant entry in the resume or
portfolio. However, internships
that do pay allow not only for spending money but also to purchase the tools needed to stay in
the computer field.
However, there is a certain amount of social pressure by the popular press and the
marketplace which is reflected both in the attraction toward IT and in the anxieties of parents,
students and faculty to have their students employed at the best possible salary or obtain
significant financial success.

3.5.

Summary of Issues for Topic 5: Other

3.5.1. Different Issues for Different Minority Groups

The relative success of some underrepresented minority groups in some aspects of life
over others indicates that possibly there are more than just cultural biases in the problem. It has
been pointed out that we should differentiate between having similar problems from having
similar symptoms and that obstacles to technology are uniquely different for different minorities.
One would be the value of technology in the mind of different minority groups. Economic and
cultural issues may be disclosed in a macroeconomic sense by looking at the purchasing habits of
the groups and their correlated academic achievements in education in SMET and IT.
3.5.2. Public Education and IT Proficiency Demonstration
The book Conspiracy of Ignorance, by Martin L Gross ISBN 0-06-019458-8, c1999,
Harper-Collins Publ., is recommended for educational reformers before attempting changes in
public education and its impact on minorities participating in IT. Quality management and
Pareto analysis would suggest researching each minority group and determining the common
elements and tackling those problems under the 80/20 Pareto paradigm. To ensure IT literacy,
University of Texas at Arlington officials are requiring students to exhibit computer literacy in
five distinct areas in order to graduate from the school. Students must demonstrate proficiency
in word processing, spreadsheets, e-mail, the Internet and online research. To meet the standard,
students can take a course or pass a computer literacy test.
3.5.3. A Women and Minority Self-Development Program
In order to increase the participation of women and minorities in Information Technology,
we must also create an environment to attract minority professors to academia and retain them.
Since there are so few minority women faculty, universities must make a commitment to nurture
My own sense from more than 30 years of experience in and support them in their
Higher Ed is that it is a very male and WASP oriented competitive efforts. As long as
environment, particularly in administration how does one women and minorities continue
find out the most effective approaches to diversify Higher struggling without guidance and
Education - and other educational environments - throughout fail to attain the levels of
and
funding
the nation, particularly in IT and SMET topics? publications
required for tenure, many will
Oscar Garcia
simply give up and leave
academia. When women and
minorities leave, students lose a role model to inspire them. It is clear that academic IT, and
computing in general, demand more than the ordinary dedication to keep up with technology
changes. It has to be admitted that without a support structure one could only do but so much. I
think there needs to be *particular* encouragement for minority women to attend short courses,
research groups, seminars, etc. that help promote and speed up their professional development
after their doctoral work. We could create a self-development program with the purpose of
enhancing ones career that would help minorities in general, and particularly women, to cope
with the pressures of the profession. Professional women are pulled even more than men and in
many various ways away from the academic IT arena.

3.5.4. Vocational Tests Could Supplement HS Counseling

The quality of career counseling in high school varies from fair and excellent to nonexistent, depending upon the school system, public or private. Sometimes instruments like the
Junior Engineering Technological Society (JETS)
The quality of career counseling in high exam and the Strong Career Interest Inventory,
school varies from fair to excellent to non- which help students identify their abilities, fill the
existent depending upon the school system. gap left by of poor counseling. It forces the
student to ask questions - which at times a
Giorgio McBeath
counselor cannot answer - such as Who is an
Information Technologist? A Computer Scientist?
A Computer Engineer? and other questions relating aptitude in math and science and other
career correlates. Some of these tests also pick the students top interests and identify the
dominant ones. This methodology should be implemented in all schools to assist
counselors/students in selecting career fields, especially where IT demand exists. The ACT
career survey indicated in 1999 only 4% of all high school students taking the exam considered
computer science and related fields as a potential major. Yet, the demand is estimated to be
118% for programmers, database administrators, network technicians/engineers through 2006.
We should not leave to random selection career choices without input from knowledgeable adults
and at least some psychometric data. How many students carry the question in their minds
What is an Information Technologist (IT)?
3.5.5. Technology, Race, and Income
On July 6 of last year a panel titled Technology, Race, and Income met in Washington,
D.C., with CSPAN coverage, to discuss problems related to low income earning urban
populations and their knowledge and access to technology. In particular, the high predisposition
to use computers at home generated by acquaintance with computers at school and at work was
cited. There was a significant gap in underrepresented minority use of technology at work and at
school which indicated that this lack of access to IT would be transferred to the home also,
thereby reducing automatically the future equalization of economic and educational opportunities
for children of those minorities. This clearly perpetuates the underrepresentation. Also there
was a proposal for a technology opportunity tax credit, a refundable credit for the purchase of
computers for educational home use. A conclusion of the meeting was that there was more than
just a problem with Internet access but also that the overall information access in
telecommunications was a victim of the digital divide.
3.5.6. Inheriting ethnicity is not the same for all
One question, particularly evident in the Native American population, is that of who
belongs to a Hypothetically, if Jim Thorpe's (our greatest American Athlete and 100%
given
ethnic native american) son (50%) did not return twice a year to the Pow Wows back
group after the at the reservation-extreme bias excludes him from indian population using
first generation computers. Beyond Jim Thorpe's great grand child (25%) all native american
if parents are of descendents are excluded. No extreme eliminators are similarly applied to
different ethnic american blacks nor Hispanics
Larry Tippens
background
themselves. For

Native Americans, the test of belonging to this ethnic group seems rather restrictive: 1) after
intermarriages beyond a grandchild there is no more Native American heritage in the population,
and 2) if membership is not kept in selected organizations, Native American heritage is not
accepted. This leads to the likelihood of a shrinking Native American population and a smaller
proportion of participation in IT or whatever other activity we choose to consider. In the U.S. the
surname is lost for children of Hispanic females but it is not clear to me whether the claim can be
made when there is ancestry and whether it is up to the individual to make the claim. For Blacks
and Asians, it is not a matter of surname but of physical characteristics. Clearly, Native
Americans are treated differently than other groups. Whatever the rule may be, it should be the
same for all ethnicities as a matter of fairness.
3.5.7. The Strategy of the AIHEC
The American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC) has formulated a High
Performance Computing Initiative (HPCI) to bring the developments of the National
Computational Science Alliance (NCSA) to the Indian Country with the following goals:

Bringing high performance computing resources to each campus

Building a Native American Grid (national infrastructure) to connect those resources

together

Building a distributed Native American technical support infrastructure

Building a distributed Native American library system

Building Information Technology workforces in the communities served by AIHEC

member institutions

Access Nodes allow real time collaborative conferencing over the Internet.
facilitate the sharing of expert human resources between the campuses.

This would

Bringing leading-edge technology to the tribal colleges and establishing Native American
resources will not eliminate poverty or close the Digital Divide (the gap between technology
haves and have-nots) in Indian country unless the economies of reservations are built up. It is
this larger picture within which the HPCI resides. How can technology be brought to
reservations through the tribal colleges and kept there? This can occur through the development
of a skilled Information Technology workforce through AIHEC member institutions designing
and implementing Information Technology curricula. These skilled workforces can then be kept
on-reservation by inviting industrial partners to participate in the development of these curricula
and then hiring graduates remotely.
Clearly, the dual and complex major needs are of infrastructure and human resources.
But there is a strong socioeconomic component to it also.
3.5.8. Career Counseling and Surveys
The quality of career
counseling in high school
varies widely depending upon
the school system, public or
private.
Career counseling

More research should be done on how young people choose

their careers, the people who influenced them, or what event or
events or information played a key role in their selection. I also
don't believe young people have a very broad comprehension
of what careers are out there and what is involved in preparing
for the career and where it could lead them
Nadine Scala

instruments like the Junior Engineering Technological Society (JETS) exam and the Strong
Career Interest Inventory can supplement favorably whatever other counseling may exist. It is
important for young people to find out what careers may exist in this changing horizon of
opportunities and their aptitude in those areas relevant to the subject. For engineering,
mathematics and science, aptitude may be confirmed statistically by JETS and correlated career
interests. If implemented in all schools to assist counselors/students, especially IT where
demand exists, such instruments could help students in selecting career fields with some degree
of anticipation of success. The 1999 ACT career survey indicated only 4% of all high school
students taking the 1999 exam checked computer science and related fields as a potential major.
Yet, the demand is estimated to be 118% for programmers, database administrators, network
technicians/engineers through 2006.
3.5.9. Vision and Definition of IT: What is an Information Technologist?
The term IT is starting to be used by companies in their recruitment advertisements. The
question of what IT is must be answered clearly if we are to attract underrepresented minorities
and others to it. The NSBE Bridge, fall 1999 issue defines an Information Technologist as a
person who develops and manages information systems that support a business or organization.
IT embodies the hardware, software algorithms, databases, tactics, and man-machine interfaces
used to create, capture, organize, modify, store, protect, access, and distribute information for
ultimate use by people. Does this tell enough to a HS student to choose one way or the other?
While the mystery of computers may still attract some people, there is a lot behind the
screen that is not so easy to acquire, much less create. Peter Freeman of Georgia Tech referring
to IT at a Snowbird conference called it Computer Science Lite possibly in the sense of a less
rigorous discipline. However, in The Supply of Information Technology Workers in the United
States, published by the Computer Research Association (see
http://www.cra.org/reports/wits/cra.wits.html), it took in Chapter 2 nineteen pages to
explain what is IT and the IT worker. The term IT is great because it is generic and covers a
multitude of sins. But, by the same token it is also not well defined because it is so broad. We
the most cost-effective action the field could take would be could agree that it should be
to provide curriculum materials that would show students what restricted to computer-based
IT is like by providing example problems for them to explore activities, and not to other
information media (radio, TV,
and solve.
James Coggins
etc.) activities. Going beyond
text processing, spreadsheets,
web page making, and PC-based databases, Peter Denning identified (quoted in the same
publication) twenty academic disciplines that could constitute professional bases for IT:
Computer Science, Information Science, Information Systems, Management Information
Systems, Software Architecture, Software Engineering, Network Engineering, Knowledge
Engineering, Database Engineering, System Security and Privacy, Performance Analysis
(Capacity Planning), Scientific Computing, Computational Science, Artificial Intelligence,
Graphics, Human-Computer Interaction, Web Service Design, Multimedia Design, System
Administration, and Digital Library Science. Broad enough for you? How can we explain this to
a neophyte in twenty words or less? One good differentiation given in the study is that between
an IT-enabled worker and IT-worker on the basis of their business and industrial knowledge

versus their IT knowledge. The elucidation of this blurred terminology is unlikely to happen
soon.
In seeking employment graduates are facing the fact that being IT-enabled or computer
literate has evolved from being a plus, to being a requirement, and will become an
assumption. Society is likely to evolve to embrace information technology and make it part of
our daily lives, including CS, CEG, MIS and other less well defined degrees. The problem with
a new different IT degree is that the subjects Should a new IT degree be created? If so, what
will not be fundamentally different from are the subjects and emphasis areas of this new
what is taught in those three classical degree?
Carolina Cruz-Neira
undergraduate disciplines. It has elements
from a variety of disciplines and it may be
that a multi disciplinary approach is the way to organize the field. Our effort here is making sure
that IT reaches and is attractive to all social groups and races. As IT sinks into our society,
current curricula will have to incorporate it into all programs. The same way that an engineer is
taught math so he can work with domain-specific formulas, people will have to be taught how to
use computers and the increasingly sophisticated domain-specific applications programs and the
increased capacity of communication networks. However, our schools should never be permitted
to serve short-term objectives by becoming employment agencies or worst. Nonetheless, there
are increasing pressures to go to distance education and just in time training as required by
industrial needs.
Perhaps a single technological vision and definition of IT would not suffice, but many
perspectives and views would be required to explain and define IT. In particular, the
underrepresentation problems have different aspects within IT spanning from socioeconomic
issues to lack of access and human resources. Interlinked minority web sites for sharing
common information and furthering mutual understanding of collective and individual problems.
A single vision and approach to a definition of IT would require a broad perspective of its
development and underlying causes. Some related references are:

Information Anxiety by Richard Saul Wurman,

Economic Value of Information by David B. Lawrence,

Globalization of Multinational Enterprise Activity and Economic Development by Neil

Hood and Stephen Young (editors),

The Third Wave by Alvin Toffler would be another good one.

4. Moderators Discussions and Interim Report on Recommendations

After the completion of the second Phase and the summarization of the 52 issues listed in
the five topics of the previous section of this report titled Summary of the Issues Resulting from
the Cyberconference Postings, a selected group of moderators exchanged their views in a
teleconference. During the teleconference the moderator group decided to group the 52 issues
into an overarching group of eleven issues, listed below under Issues from Teleconference.
This was done in preparation to an interim presentation to be made on December 9, 1999 by a
small group of moderators to officers of different cognizant programs of the NSF. This summary
of the interim report at that meeting is particularly important because it coalesced the issues into
thirteen potential research topics, following the 204 documented postings from the
Cyberconference. Those thirteen topics are discussed below under the very important section
labeled Potential Research Topics.

4.1.

Minutes from Meeting in Room 730 at NSF on Dec. 9, 1999, 1-5 PM

Participants:

Evans Craig. via conference call, Supercomputer Center at UNM

Willie Pearson, Wake Forest University, Dept. of Sociology

Bonnie Sheahan, NSF SBE

Ruta Sevo, NSF EHR

Roscoe Giles, Boston University / EOT-PACI

Caroline Wardle, NSF CISE

Andrew Bernat, UTEP, Dept. of Computer Science

Oscar Garcia, PI Wright State University

Rita Rodriguez, NSF EPSCOR Program

Dr. Wardle had a brief introduction that reminded us that the objective of the Cyberconference
was to elicit research questions, not necessarily methods of implementation of presumed
solutions.

4.2.

Statistics of postings (presented by Dr. Garcia)

Phase I took place over 4 weeks and Phase II lasted 3 weeks. There were five topic areas
and postings on the first one, as usual, were more frequent. There were 136 registrants (vs. 230
in womens virtual conference) of which only 29% posted a total of 204 messages; those posting
averaged ~5 postings/participant but there were less than 1 message per registrant so that many
people didnt post (similar to womens conference). The distribution was:

Topic Cluster

Postings
in Phase I

Postings in
Phase II

Total posting
per topic

Outreach
Teaching K-PhD
Research
Mentoring
Other
TOTALS

48
36
18
31
10
143

26
8
5
11
11
61

74
44
23
42
21
204

Total number
of issues
raised
15
9
6
13
9
52

% of
posting in
this topic
36%
22%
11%
21%
10%
100%

Dr. Wardle reminded the group again that her charge is to write up a research program
that will address the underlying reasons for the underrepresentation of women and minorities in
the IT workforce. The afternoon was a total immersion in issues that was useful and necessary.
An electronic report of the meeting was needed in the short term and these rough minutes
were part of it. The final report is expected early during the following year. Dr. Wardle interacts
with a cross-disciplinary NSF group representing constituencies who would be interested in
research efforts to develop an initial program with a focus on certain key areas to be determined.
Dr. Garcia strongly suggested the need for a long-term plan up-front because short-term
efforts are unlikely to solve the workforce and minority problems, which unfortunately is at
variance with typical NSF policy in setting up programs. Dr. Wardle states that there is need to
answer the first 12 research questions to know the form of #13 (reference is made to Potential
Research Topics). Dr. Garcia indicates that given timetables and rate of change, when all
answers are obtained for the first twelve they will be obsolete and not meaningful for the last
one.
Dr. Giles points out that we know the causes why minorities do not participate (historical
discrimination); he suggests that we rewrite questions as targeted to our audience, thus impacting
explicitly the targeted populations.
Dr. Rodriguez agrees that we need a meta-plan to make sure effort goes forward.
Dr. Pearson suggests that we target document towards policies at NSF; GPRA requires
short-term focus even though long term is necessary.
Dr. Rodriguez indicates that the economic issues of IT are so significant to the country
that this is a unique opportunity to drive minorities forward and contribute to solving a national
human resource problem.
Dr. Craig agrees that we need sustainability; need inter-agency collaborations as well;
same issues keep coming up in study after study.
Dr. Garcia declares the meeting adjourned on time (5 PM).

4.3.

Issues From Teleconference

4.3.1. Aggregation vs. separation

Separate programs are needed to approach various communities since communities are
very different (their present status in relation to IT, how can they be engaged) but some problems
are common to all. Symptoms are similar, but at times causes and solutions may be quite

different. Social issues and groups working together are important. Issues are what granularity
of disaggregation? Gender disaggregation? Geographic differences matter (even within the
same ethnic group). Differences between fields of SMET; issues of sciences vs. IT matter.
Much of this has been brought up over the years, but not followed up on. For instance, the
Native American Telecommunications Forum brought up 67 issues and 35 strategies (see
http://www.ahpcc.unm.edu/Alliance/Tribal/ITREPORT/sld001.htm for cross-referencing) and
they keep being rediscovered; findings, summarization, interpretation and dissemination of
relevant portions of studies already done is needed. Pieces of the problem are actually shared
also by the culture of the majorities and research needs to be done there as well; but do we wish
to argue for it? Many of the issues are general population issues with accentuation for minorities
and women. Top-level coordination is essential. Must balance between separate small programs
at the leaves of a tree and one coordinating structure at the top:

Coordinating Program in IT
Women

African
Americans

Minorities

Native
Americans

Hispanics

4.3.2. Coordinating efforts

Tremendous amount of data/reports/activities are available with invaluable information
from government agencies (NSF/SRS, NTIA, etc) and private foundations and scientific
societies; how do we use, filter, interpret, and disseminate them? Agencies may not be
coordinating. Reports need to be made cohesive; summaries are needed because of massive
amounts of data; effective ways of using them for action. Very time consuming to accomplish
the study and summarization. Reports must be relevant to the audiences in order to achieve
results. Is it possible to build an information system that makes it possible to combine this
information in an easy manner for interpretation? This could be a very concrete project building the information basis for examining the issue of minority participation - involving data
mining with interpretation. We must be careful that analyzing reports does not substitute for
actual programs. Timeliness of assessment is very important in this rapidly changing field.
4.3.3. Specificity
Alluded to in the first item above; what is an appropriate level of specificity on
geography and corresponding granularity on ethnicity and their problems? Example: 3dimensional map of US with minority populations by ethnicity as vertical axis; compare that to a
similar map with Internet node access as vertical axis.
4.3.4. Research vs. assessment vs. implementation
There are results being obtained in programs that bring minorities into IT but they are not
uniformly evaluated. We need to understand the magnitude of the problem of attracting

minorities to IT. We need to understand what has been done and what the results are, what works
and what does not. We do not want to start from a tabula rasa every time. There are questions
at all levels - research, appropriate assessment strategies, appropriate implementation strategies.
Many of the participants in the Cyberconference presented issues which were more focused on
implementation and showed little patience with doing more research on questions that had been
already studied. But there are research questions in all areas - theoretical research frameworks,
research into what are the best assessment strategies are, and research questions about what are
the best implementation strategies to actuate a particular theoretical framework. There are real
questions about the willingness of some people to make real data available due to the fear that it
will be used against them if they are not 100% successful. We need to know what works and,
under what conditions does it work? Assessment ideally provides feedback but it is seldom used;
we have the continuous loop research - implementation - assessment. This is formative
evaluation for program improvement rather than pure summative evaluation. It is important to
separate issues of quantity from questions of quality in minority program assessment - how do
we measure this? Is critical mass of minorities with IT knowledge more important than fewer
shining stars? These are hard questions to answer. It seems better to use the term shining stars
rather than call it quality because the latter is a relative term. Previous studies indicate that
critical mass is important. What constitutes critical mass and whether it is indispensable is
another example where relevant information is not accessible to IT work: studies need to inform
any new work to leverage on past efforts. These questions hold for the issue of quantity vs.
quality in women in IT and for other issues also. Similarly, many women in IT become involved
in womens issues early in their careers and do not build their careers first; this seems to hurt
their progress later in their academic careers. Do you invest your resources in bringing a few
people way up or many people partway up? What is the proper mix/balance?
4.3.5. Research on how to best develop human resources in IT
Even simple back-of-the-envelope computations (as pointed out in the Cyberconference)
indicate that we cannot fulfill projected needs of IT workers. What is it going to take to move up
the ladder in education? What would put it on the table? Bringing together (unbiased!) working
groups could provide unbiased accounting of reports and program assessment. Coverage of
topics and views reported by different groups is very uneven. Human resource development
does not have sufficient cachet in our environments and cannot be truly accomplished by
instantaneous or short-term projects. For the foreseeable future we will under-produce IT
workers even with wildly successful programs. From the Native American point of view there
are very few resources being put in to IT workforce development. There is an infrastructure
problem that hinders workforce development. There is a second front in the human resource
front - it is in the major research institutions where minority students need to succeed to show
that it can be done. What can make human resource development of recognized value at these
institutions so that interest in developing minority students in IT helps faculty rather than hurts
their careers at these institutions?
4.3.6. Mentoring
Much has been studied and written on mentoring but more dissemination of proven
summarized results (assessment, manuals, handbooks) would not hurt. Mentoring can be
harmful if not done correctly by instilling under expectations. How do we get our arms around
mentoring in a productive and practical way? Mentoring works if done right and done in the

right environment. But there are still many questions left open about mentoring: Can it be done
on the web? Best one on one? Cross ethnicity? Cross gender? Is it very different if done face
to face? We should not confuse role models (no interaction, observed at a distance) with
mentoring (direct interaction). There are research questions on distance vs. interaction.
Mentoring can happen at majority institutions as well as in minority serving institutions. There
is a problem for mentors who spend too much time early in their careers mentoring and later
dont make progress. This may result in greater harm done to the community than good (by
resulting in the loss of good examples). Also, as mentioned, poor mentoring can do harm in
different ways. A mentor must hold minority/women mentees to high standards just as for
majority students, else the mentor would be setting them up for failure. Possible research topics
could include the intersection of IT and mentoring (web, etc.), that is, can IT technology itself
help IT human resource development? Can one teach effective mentoring? There are specific
studies on mentoring available but can these results be generalized? IT will have a global
impact so anything that we learn in relation to minorities will have global impact to other areas
and is a worthy investment. Internet time is much faster than real time and may impact many
on how mentoring happens. Mentoring has always happened in a natural way - good mentors
know what is relevant. Nobel laureates tend to have been students of Nobel laureates. It is not
negative in that sense. There is also peer mentoring, not just student mentoring, to be researched.
There is a reportedly high tenure-denial rate for minority faculty, perhaps because they have so
many opportunities and demands due to their status. Mentoring must be targeted to specific
groups - someone who can mentor one group might not effectively mentor another. Mentoring
needs to be valued by social and academic standards. Bad experiences make a major impact on
minority and women students if they are not sure that they should be participating in the first
place; males may be more aggressive/secure in their perceptions and may not have such negative
impacts. We must learn whether mentoring can be taught and training provided. There are
differing styles of mentoring based upon the medium of exchange - face to face, vs. by phone, vs.
by web. However, it is difficult to overcome existing social stereotypes.
4.3.7. Minorities at majority institutions
It is a fact, for example, that of the African-American college population enrolls at
majority institutions. Some research questions are: to what extent is this true for those with IT
interests? What about other minority populations? We cannot afford to not deal with the
population of interest but seldom we recognize or assess the magnitude of the human potential in
Predominantly White Institutions for minorities. Is there a reward structure for faculty at those
institutions? Frequently even public expression of support does not turn into practical support in
these cases. Can we find out if it is possible to build a (possibly virtually connected) critical
mass of minority students at majority institutions? There must be incentives for faculty at
majority institutions to become involved - real incentives. Could prototyping distance learning
activities at majority institutions have a real focus on serving students at other institutions that
cannot afford to offer certain advanced courses? Many institutions serving mostly majority
students but with significant minority populations may have the resources to create IT access,
servers, courses, etc. oriented to use by themselves and by minority institutions. Can they create
and maintain resources that are eventually taken over by minority institutions? These must be
true partnerships, not charity. NSF has encouraged in the past the re-emphasis of education
integrated with research. Could one determine the effect of award programs that integrate

research and education for faculty and for those institutions that value this integration? Can we
truly measure progress in this integration in IT so that we may reward institutions for it?
4.3.8. Career counseling
A common perception is that present performance of High School career counselors is
very poor mostly because of their low knowledge level about IT. The counseling office is a good
location for understanding what students want to know and what career counselors need to know
to do a better job. It is believed that there are significant problems because personal bias or
preconceived limitations towards women and minorities by career counselors. Career counseling
presents serious issues of fairness and has great potential for negative impact if not done
correctly and with expert knowledge. Updating career counselors could have a multiplying
effect on students with IT potential being correctly channeled to their proper major. Can such
perceptions be studied, quantified and corrected? Can objective, possibly computerized, aptitude
testing lead capable students towards IT such as the JETS program does for engineering? How
can IT aptitude be assessed? What is aptitude in IT anyway and what are the basics that could
promote it? Many students drop out very early in their school careers: when is it optimum to test
them for accurate counseling? Even if we can test them, can we say what makes someone a
good programmer? It may not take the same aptitude to make a good computer scientist or
computer engineer (compare, for example, the historically evolved aptitudes for glass blowing
and for chemistry). Which is a better approach: to test if the student has abilities that are used in
information technology or to test the students interest in IT based upon a series of questions? IT
is a very dynamic and varied career - there are lots of differences from one type of IT position to
another IT position - how do you test meaningfully for such a wide range of aptitudes? An
advantage of well-controlled automatic testing is that it is impersonal and uniform and perhaps
can get away from the individual bias of counselors. This would be particularly true if research
were to show that it could be done on the web and generalized. Research on testing in this
manner wouldnt have bias if done correctly and it would be IT helping to improve IT. For some
ethnic groups such as Native Americans on the reservations and others in inner cities, such
testing would present specific problems because the students may have a virtual lack of IT
knowledge or frame of reference in their worlds. But everyone does manipulate information
even if they arent using technology to do it and could possibly (?) develop talent in information
manipulation and transformation. Can we take advantage of this in the test developed? What
does it take to motivate able students to take the first step into an IT career if they dont have
something pushing them in - parents, church, counselors, teachers, etc.? Then having taken the
first step, subsequent steps may be easier. In general, for minority students, knowledgeable
counselors and teachers have a very serious impact since many minority parents do not have
college in their backgrounds. Can this be quantified?
4.3.9. Training vs. education
The current burst of
I would love to be MCSE Certified (Microsoft Certified Service
new
businesses
in the IT
Engineer) it cost $7000 at Phoenix University and if you know of
monies I could apply for I would appreciate your assistance industry is a two-edge sword:
one edge - very appealing
Wanda Smith
because there are good jobs
available - the flip side is that
minimal knowledge is enough to get going even without significant educational content. BDPA

gives instruction in Visual Basic and encourages Microsoft Certification and moves right into ecommerce vs. providing a bigger picture of the state of the art. A difficult research question is:
How can we make training a pathway to education, rather than a never-ending sequence of
learning new releases? Industry makes very similar demands - wanting universities to take up
costs of training so that their bottom line is not affected, but often not making their commitment
to the student/employee long-term educational growth. There are needs to provide education in
IT which go beyond just fulfilling the immediate IT workforce needs. However, training and
employment provide a topical and financial startup for students as they continue their education much better to learn Visual Basic than burger flipping as someone said. For example, colleges
and universities train students to be system administrators because they cant hire professionals;
students learn a great skill and the most ambitious and motivated continue their education. To
accomplish the longer term educational task requires industrial participation and collaboration.
What is the ethical obligation of industry toward their employees? Can practices be studied?
Cooperative education programs may help in this regard. Does meeting IT workforce demands
require education or just training? The key difference is that IT changes continuously - without
education, obsolescence comes quickly. There are serious issues involving the training provided
in two-year community and junior colleges. Society encourages just-in-time education - just
enough taken quickly enough to do the job. There is a significant difference between an IT
professional and a skilled IT worker. There is a characteristic of IT that relates to chaos theory:
small changes in the marketplace produce major differences in other seemingly unrelated areas.
The Western Governors University is trying not to create a new curriculum but to make one out
of existing courses.
4.3.10. SMET results do not necessarily transfer to IT
We can see differences when we try to involve students in research and compare how it is
done in two fields such as physics and computer science. Introductory Physics students do not
necessarily have any deeper understanding of the tools theyre using than CS students do, but
they have the excitement of being a full participant earlier in the learning experience while CS
students climb the ladder of knowledge very gradually. Are there IT tools that can be used as
motivational forces that provide interactive participation in the learning experience? Perhaps we
need an IT Circus like we have physics circuses. How can we make IT sufficiently evolved
and refined to produce useful and motivational educational tools? Computational Science may
provide possible bridge to the chasm. The SMET and the IT people do not need to know
everything about each others field. Similar questions appeared in the early evolution of science
and engineering.
4.3.11. IT is the prototypical multi-disciplinary changing discipline
How can the breadth of IT be made evident to minorities to attract them to the field? IT
moves into science, goes across management, is used in art, and encompasses most areas of
human interest. It is a key enabling technology for many fields. There is a serious problem
explaining what IT is in terms that are understandable, meaningful or relevant to students (or
teachers-counselors) since a clear image or vision of IT, uniformly accepted, is lacking. Like a
collage of activities, IT is hard to explain. It seems that confusion about IT may be long lasting
-for example computer science is not about the science of computers; topology is similarly
difficult to explain. Perhaps a nice IT circus would help by conveying the concepts of
information and technology in a very visual fashion. We dont want to focus just on technology

as it changes rapidly and ignores the intellectual content of information. We can portray IT as an
empowerment for automation, communications, as a vehicle for creativity, customization, etc. In
the past we reduced information content in order to make things feasible (limited options on cars,
clothes that dont fit exactly) - what will happen in the future as we can handle larger and larger
information content? Faculty members are often not the best to speak to students about
technology and IT changes, as they are frequently not at the forefront of it.

4.4.

Potential Research Topics

Each topic below is intended to be most applicable to underrepresented populations

(although they may be also meaningful for the majority population at large, in the same manner
that help for the disabled also helps the able) and the items in parenthesis refer to the list in the
Summary of Inputs for the two Phases of the Cyberconference.
4.4.1. The important issues of access (see inputs 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.9, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3)
Lack of equal access, different priorities are needed for different groups, much work done
on SMET issues not quite relevant to IT, parental involvement is needed, CBTs are starting to
appear in some cities (Chicago, EDUCAUSE). Research: What are the differences in
connectivity for different groups of underrepresented populations? How can we quantify and
catalog the problems of access in differing ethnic communities? What are the most appropriate
methods to provide access to specific communities? Access is key to learning and using IT
resources. Access includes methods of interaction with technology, distance learning
availability, differing interfaces, connectivity to similar ethnic or social groups geographically
dispersed, etc.
4.4.2. Vision and definition of IT (see inputs 1.6, 1.7, 1.8, 5.9)
Research is needed to find a natural common thread in the collage that makes up IT.
Such would allow training to be followed by education. We also need to understand what might
make IT of specific interest to underrepresented populations beyond just securing a job. A vision
of IT would help in giving it a professional career image. For example: how hardware relates to
software, and how databases relate to networking, with all other theoretical and application areas
in between.
4.4.3. Reports, databases, too much information that goes uninterpreted (see inputs 1.10,
1.11, 1.12, 3.6)
There is an enormous number of reports, initiatives, activities, etc. that are rediscovering
in different ways different aspects of the issues of underrepresentation. There is need for
research on how to build a clearinghouse and perhaps an IT workforce workbench that
synthesizes information and data. Government and foundation efforts need coordination and
common assessment methods that are comparable and allow sensible interpretation. We are
inundated with data and do not understand the full causes of the problem. We need to relate
syndromes to knowledge possibly through data mining and interpretation.
4.4.4. How to make training lead to education (inputs 1.13, 1.14)
Minorities very susceptible to training when new technologies are developed as it leads to
quick employment/income, while sacrificing the present for the future personal and professional

development. Research on how to make a seamless transition (or as seamless as possible) so that
there is a continuum between beginning vocational training and building up to an education.
Need industrial collaboration in this research effort.
4.4.5. Understanding factors of IT career selection, improving aptitude identification and
counseling related to minority populations (see inputs 1.15, 5.2, 5.4, 5.8, and some in
Teaching K-PhD)
Research on counseling methods and effectiveness, what should a counselor know about
IT, how to rate the IT aptitude? Related to the vision of what IT is and how it appeals or not to
minorities. How to make the IT possibilities known to K-12 students everywhere? What is
involved in teaching an IT curriculum? How to best teach the teachers and keep them current?
4.4.6. How to execute, recognize and reward quality teaching in IT (see inputs 2.4, 2.5, 2.6,
3.4)
Research on faculty recognition, positive and negative factors. Are present attempts to
recognize and assess teaching of minorities effective? Evaluation of cost of teaching IT and how
to ameliorate the drain on school resources. Research on modeling the pipeline and
identification of leakage points.
4.4.7. Distance learning development in IT, when and where and how does it work? (see
inputs 2.7, 2.8, 2.9)
Research on assessment of distance learning and need for relevancy, as required for
interest in the reservations at least and possibly elsewhere.
4.4.8. US citizens rather work in IT than go to IT graduate schools, foreign IT students
turn into workers as a safety valve for industry, who will lead in IT in the US? (see inputs
3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.5)
Research on what are long term consequences? Research at Universities in IT (for
example networking) is very difficult to conduct because industrial demand makes graduate
teaching and study not economically competitive. Research on how to model, quantify and
assess the seriousness of the manpower problem, particularly at the advanced degree level.
Research on social, economic, and educational factors that act as barriers for IT graduate study
by underrepresented minorities.
4.4.9. The BIG issue of mentoring (see inputs 4.1 through 4.13)
We know a lot, but what can we do with it if we were to codify what we know? What are
the effective and most practical ways of mentoring? Research on consolidation of what we know
and can prove, evaluation methods, categorization of mentoring, and scale-up. Issues of data
validity, distance mentoring, novel approaches, cross ethnicity/gender, etc. Research on common
problems with mentoring of women and minorities.
4.4.10. Different issues for different ethnic groups in different locations (and vs. womens
issues)
Need interpretation, not just analysis (see inputs 5.1, 5.5, 5.7). It is not possible to sweep
all different ethnic issues under the same rubric as geography and sub-ethnic groups also vary the

possible approaches. Need to research numbers and develop a realistic strategy to cope with the
problem.
4.4.11. Can self development and life-long learning be taught and used effectively? What
kinds of materials are most cost effective? (see item 5.3)
Research on IT methods for life long learning. Research on what every IT professional
should know and how will an IT professional keep up with change. Methodologies for
continuing education and delivery essential for ITs pace of change.
4.4.12. Understanding what is needed in research vs. assessment vs. implementation (see
teleconference topic 4 above)
The natural tendency of minorities is to identify problems and provide solutions. Many
programs have been carried out. There is need for research on how to integrate the continuum of
research already done or to be done with proper standardized assessment methods with
implementations whose success or lack thereof informs further research. Isolated pieces do not
help.
4.4.13. What programs and how would one assure or sustain effectively the continuity of
programs over long periods of time (an overarching issue).
The general problems of education (K-PhD) and participation of underrepresented
minorities are exacerbated in IT because of its accessibility and technology demands, its rapid
change, and its pervasiveness. It is clear that short-term isolated agency efforts in using silver
bullets, while well intentioned and brave, cannot cope with the enormity of the
multidimensional problem. A long term, sustainable effort, with interagency, professional and
scientific society, and private foundation coordination is needed. Three to five year efforts could
not be sufficient, as it is necessary to impact a wide segment of the US population. Flexible
planning, regularly evaluated over a long period of time (a decade as a minimum), require also
integration of information over a long period. Sustainability requires political and social will.
There is a window of opportunity that should be open in using IT itself as a mechanism for true
democratization.

4.5.

Cited References

[CLINT 99]

REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT ON BRIDGING THE DIGITAL DIVIDE,

http://www.whitehouse.gov/WH/New/html/19991209.html.

[CRA 99]

Computer Research Association, The Supply of Information Technology

Workers in the United States, P. Freeman and W. Asprey, 1999.

[DALE 99]

Closing the Digital Divide, William M. Daley, Secretary of Commerce,

http://www.digitaldivide.gov/.

[DDS 99]

Digital Divide Summit, December 9, 1999, http://www.digitaldivide.gov/.

[DOC]

Department of Commerce, Americas New Deficit: The Shortage of Information

Technology Workers. See: http://www.ta.doc.gov/reports/itsw/itsw.pdf.

[NTIA 95]

National
Telecommunications
and
Information
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/fallingthru.html.

[NTIA 98]

National Telecommunications and Information Administration,

Administration,

http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/net2/falling.html.
[NTIA 99]

National Telecommunications and Information Administration,

http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/fttn99/contents.html.

[OTP 99]

THE DIGITAL WORKFORCE: Building Infotech Skills at the Speed of

Innovation, U.S. Department of Commerce, Office of Technology Policy, June
1999. See: http://www.ta.doc.gov/reports/itsw/itsw.pdf.

[SRS 98]

Science Research Studies Division, Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities
in Science and Engineering, http://www.nsf.gov/sbe/srs/nsf99338/start.htm

5. Appendix I: Cyberconference Moderators

Al, Richard (Moderator)
alo@dt.uh.edu
Professor of Computer and Mathematical Sciences and
Executive Director of Center for Computational Science and
Advanced Distributed Simulation
Executive Director Grants and Contracts
Department of Computer and Mathematical Sciences
University of Houston-Downtown
One Main Street, Houston, TX 77002
Phone:
(713) 221-8207
Fax:
(713) 226-5290
http://satyricon.dt.uh.edu/~ccsds/
Anderson, Kenneth R. (Moderator)
k.anderson@computer.org
158 Camber Lane
Mount Laurel, NJ 08054
Phone:
(609) 222-9311 X-7849
Phone2:
(610) 892-1500
Bernat, Andrew (Moderator)
abernat@cs.utep.edu
Computer Science Department
The University of Texas at El Paso
El Paso, TX 79968
Phone:
915/747-6950
Phone 2:
915/747-5480 (secretary)
Fax:
915/747-5030
Buller, Karen Radney (Moderator)
karen@numa.niti.org
President and CEO
National Indian Telecommunications Institute
110 N. Guadalupe, Suite 9
Santa Fe, NM 87501
Phone:
(505) 983-2878 (H)
Phone 2:
(505) 986-3872 (W)
Fax:
(505) 989-4271
www.niti.org
Cooper , Deborah M. (Moderator)
d.cooper@computer.org
P. O. Box 17753
Arlington, VA 22216
Phone:
(703) 908-9312
Fax:
(703) 908-0152

Craig, Evans (Moderator)

ecraig@ahpcc.unm.edu
Education, Outreach, & Training Mgr.
Albuquerque High Performance Computing Center
University of New Mexico
1601 Central, NE
Albuquerque, NM 87110
Phone:
(505) 277-9544
Fax:
(505) 277-8235
http://puffin.ahpcc.unm.edu/
Frierson Jr., Henry T. (Moderator)
ht_frierson@unc.edu
Professor of Educational Psychology
Graduate School
University of North Carolina
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-4010
Phone:
(919) 962-7507
Fax:
(919) 962-1533
Garcia, Oscar (PI and Co-coordinator)
ogarcia@cs.wright.edu
Professor
Department of Computer and Engineering
Wright State University
Dayton, OH 45432
Phone:
(937) 775-5134
Fax:
(937) 775-5133
http://www.cs.wright.edu/people/faculty/agoshtas/oscar.html
Giles, Roscoe (Co-coordinator)
roscoe@bu.edu
Professor
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
College of Engineering
Boston University
Phone:
(617)353-6082
Fax:
(617)353-6440
Gonzalez, Mario J. (Moderator)
Mgonzalez@utsystem.edu
Vice Chancellor, Telecommunications and Information Technology
The University of Texas System
201 W. Seventh St.
Austin, TX 78701-2981
Phone:
(512) 499-4207 (W)
Fax:
(512) 499-4715

Gutierrez, Ricardo (Moderator)

rgutier@cs.wright.edu
Department of Computer Science and Engineering
Wright State University
Dayton, OH 45435
Phone:
(937) 775-5120
Fax:
(937) 775-5133
http://www.cs.wright.edu/~rgutier/
Hollins, Etta (Moderator)
etta.hollins@wright.edu
228E Millett Hall
Professor and Associate Dean
College of Education and Human Services
Wright State University
Dayton, OH 45435
Phone:
(937) 775-2573
Marcus, Robert (Moderator)
marcus@csu.ces.edu
Assistant Professor
Mathematics and Computer Science
Central State University
1400 Bush Row Road
Wiberforce, OH 45384
Phone:
(937) 376-6362
McBeath, Giorgio (Moderator)
giorgio.mcbeath@wright.edu
Assistant Dean/Director of MEP
College of Engineering
Wright State University
Dayton, Ohio 45435
Phone:
(937) 775-5001
Harris, Willie J. (Moderator)
Solarwjh@aol.com
1715 Princeton Drive
Dayton, Ohio 45406
Phone
(937) 274-1588
Pearson, Willie (Moderator)
pearson@wfu.edu
Department of Sociology
Wake Forest University
Winston-Salem, NC 27109
Phone:
(336) 758-5467 (W)
Phone 2:
(336) 760-3133 (H)
Fax:
(336) 758-1988 ?

Ramamoorthy, C. V. (Moderator)
ram@cs.berkeley.edu
University of California, Berkeley
558 Blackhawk Club Drive
Danville CA 94506
Phone:
(925) 736-3436 (H)
Fax:
(925) 736-3430
Tapia, Richard A. (Moderator)
rat@caam.rice.edu
Dept. of Computational and Applied Mathematics - MS 134
Rice University
6100 Main Street
Houston, Texas 77005-1892
Phone:
(713) 527-4049
Fax
(713) 285-5318
York, Bryant W. (Moderator)
york@ccs.neu.edu
College of Computer Science
Northeastern University
Boston, MA 02115
Phone:
(617) 373-2177
Fax:
(617) 373-5121
Student Support
Tim Heeg
Wright State University
Department of Computer Science and Engineering
Dayton, OH 45345

6. Appendix II
Research Foundations on Successful Participation of Underrepresented
Minorities in Information Technology: A Virtual Conference
Project Summary
This project is oriented to finding research directions for the determination and
remediation of fundamental causes that prevent underrepresented minorities (Blacks, Hispanics
and Native Americans) from participating in the mainstream educational and research
opportunities in Information Technology.
The project will be carried out with minimal travel, and will utilize NSF software support
for a virtual environment. The co-coordinators, the moderators, and the discussants will interact
via the WWW by posting and summarizing ideas, concepts, and opinions on four topics that we
will cover (outreach, teaching, research, and mentoring) plus any other items not covered in
those areas. The names of the four topics are only labels that we have chosen and incorporate
broader issues as described later.
The Cyberconference will produce a report to inform the community of the results of
the exchange and will be appropriately disseminated.

6.1.

Purpose of this proposal

The purpose of this proposal is to disclose the fundamental research issues underpinning
the success factors for the participation of underrepresented minorities [OMB] in careers at all
levels in Information Technology (and particularly, in Computing Science and Engineering.) A
number of attempts have been carried out, with varying degrees of success, to bring
underrepresented minorities (Blacks, Hispanics, and Native Americans) to participate in the
mainstream of the information sciences and technologies. The research hypothesis is that no
systematic body of data or theory currently exists to guide the actions to be taken toward this
goal. The anecdotal and common sense approaches that have been taken with varying degrees of
success will also be considered in the discussion, but the emphasis will be on the research
necessary to firmly determine the root causes of the problem. The research topics, to be
described in a final report, should contain innovative and promising ideas to aid in formulating a
research agenda on the topic of minorities in computing.

6.2.

Motivation for this proposal

Changes are sweeping our computer-intertwined real lives in many different directions
and our society is being further fragmented, not only by levels of education, financial status, and
ethnic background, but also by accessibility to and knowledge of what Herbert Simon called the
world of the artificial. Just as with many other educational-related issues, but this time more
pervasively, the world of interactions with computers has extended from programming to dialogs

and navigation in virtual and simulated worlds of information, in a manner that will further
divide our children and adults into haves and have-nots. The underrepresented minority
population in the United States, while increasing in numbers, is decreasing in people entering the
computer field, at a time when the bounty of new opportunities seems to be rising without end in
sight. Large segments of the population, on the basis of gender and ethnicity, are not
participating in proportional numbers in supplying the information technology needs of the
nation. Why? What can be done about it?
A number of answers, some based on very realistic reasoning, have been provided. But
no organized scientific research approach has been taken to ascertain fundamental causes to
inform a methodology of action.
This proposal does not advocate any specific methodology of action, but an open forum
where constituencies may exchange ideas and inform each other of the areas to investigate so
that such methodology of action be soundly understood. We are proposing to investigate what
should be the research agenda that may provide solid foundations to ethnological solutions. The
magnitude and complexity of the problem are so great that it is not expected that we will find a
silver bullet to solve the problem. But we hope to determine the most promising lines of
research that will lead to a comprehensive and integrated approach over a spectrum of
educational environments ranging from K-PhD. In the information society of the new
millennium, the typical worker is rewarded with good benefits and salaries if he/she is ITenabled or else he/she may not be capable of holding any other than the fewer and fewer
unskilled positions available. At the same time, the Technology Office of the Department of
Commerce [DOC] has identified a significant workforce deficit. Projections provided by the
Bureau of Labor Statistics indicate more than one million new IT workers will be needed
between 1994 and 2005 as computer scientists and engineers, systems analysts, and computer
programmers [BLS]. For the same period, an annual average of 95,000 new workers will be
needed. Given that our current national production (in 1995) was of 22,367 US citizens and
permanent residents with Bachelor degrees in Computer Science, 6,452 at the MS level and 617
at the PhD level, we see that we have a severe shortage of human capital. The Information
Technology Association of America has reported large and increasing shortages of IT workers
[ITAA].
A recent report published by the Computing Research Association of a committee lead by
Peter Freeman and William Aspray under an NSF grant [CRA], with support of the Intersociety
Working Group on Information Technology Workers, also reported on the shortage of minorities
in Information Technology. Table 7-3 (page 114) in that report shows the small percentile of
doctoral degrees awarded by ethnicity. The reports also points out that underrepresented
minorities in Computer or Information Science as a group, once in college, graduate at a higher
percentage rate than non-Hispanic White males. We suspect that this is not true throughout all
ethnic groups. Also, we must remember that the number of underrepresented minorities entering
Colleges or Universities is very small. The report states:
Many of the reasons that discourage women from IT careers also apply to minorities.
There are very few minority role models in information technology. Minority students are less
likely to have computers at home or at school on which to gain an early exposure to information
technology. Students who attend historically black colleges and universities face limited
computing facilities, compared with the average U.S. college or university. But there are other
reasons as well. For example, minority students who want to devote their lives to helping their

communities do not regard information technology as a social-conscience field. Students with

that goal are much more likely to train for careers in law, medicine, or politics.
An NSF study [NSF99] by ethnicity of the US population and Computer Science
production indicates a significant imbalance (numbers for 1995 but representative in general)
between the composition of the population and the percentile production of computer scientists:

The White, non-Hispanic population accounts for 73.5% of the US population and
contributes 69.44% of BS, 65.17% of MS, and 73.42% of PhD degrees in CS.

The Asian ethnic population accounts for 3.40% of the US population and contributes
10.57% of BS, 19.20% of MS, and 22.37% of PhD degrees in CS, well above its
expected ratio of representation.

The Black, non-Hispanic population constitutes 12.00% of the US population, and

contributes 11.17% of BS, 5.38% of MS, and 1.78% of PhD degrees in CS, showing a
remarkable decline in the expected ratio at graduate degrees.

The Hispanic population constitutes 10.40% of the US population and contributes 5.84%
of BS, 3.07% of MS, and 0.97% of PhD degrees in CS, a very low index of
representation at all levels of the educational spectrum.

The American Indian and Alaskan Native population constitute 0.7% of the US
population and contribute 0.49% of BS, 0.25% of MS, and 0.00% of PhD degrees in CS,
an extremely low level of representation at all levels, particularly in graduate degrees.
We are also interested in including the Native Pacific Islanders to whom little attention
has been given in this ethnic category.

Graduates of unknown ethnicity account for 2.48% of BS, 6.93% of MS, and 1.46% of
PhD degree productivity in CS.

The conclusion is that, at the time when the country is in great need of expertise in the
Information Technology field, computer scientists considered minorities (with the exception of
Asians, constituting 23.1% of the population) are contributing in disproportionately low ratios to
satisfying that need. They are also not benefiting from the information revolution taking place in
the mainstream of the US academic, government, and business environment.
This concern is certainly reflected in the strategic goal of the National Science
Foundation as outlined in the Government Performance and Results Act Strategic Plan FY
1997B2003 in its intent to strive for a diverse, globally oriented workforce of scientists and
engineers.

6.3.

Some previous and ongoing efforts

This is not a previously unrecognized problem, albeit one that has been difficult to tackle
because, among other obvious reasons, of its technical complexity, its social sensitivities, and
historically long ignored educational deficiencies.
Without attempting to be encyclopedic we will try to cover some well-recognized efforts,
which may offer background information for this study. Participants in this study will be invited
to contribute to establishing a resource of literature and electronic reference material relevant to
Information Technology and the ethnic deficits and its potential related research for solutions.

However, while it may be important to bring the pertinent previously considered issues up for
discussion again, we hope that some innovative and out of the box thinking in a scientifically
well founded manner, with a good sociological informed basis, takes place.
The National Science Foundation biennially conducts congressionally mandated studies
on Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering. These
studies report on the status of women and minorities in science and engineering. The reports
document both short and long-term trends in the participation of women, minorities, and persons
with disabilities in science and engineering education and employment. The ninth of these
reports with the most recent data was published in May 1999 [NSF99]. Some of the highlights
from this report, related to minorities in Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and Technology
(SMET), are given below with only minor format changes. We would expect that most, if not
all, would be applicable to Information Technology, but notice the underlined parenthetical
remark about the field of science entered by underrepresented minorities and their employment.
1.

Although substantial differences in course taking by racial/ethnic groups remain, the

percentages of Black, Hispanic, and American Indian students taking many basic and
advanced mathematics courses doubled between 1982 and 1994. For example, in 1982,
22 percent of Black high school graduates had taken algebra II. By 1994, 44 percent had
taken this course.

2.

Racial/ethnic groups differ greatly in mathematics course taking. Black and Hispanic
high school graduates in 1994 were far more likely than White and Asian students to have
taken remedial mathematics courses. Thirty-one percent of Black, 24 percent of
Hispanic, and 35 percent of American Indian high school graduates, compared with about
15 percent of Whites and Asians had taken remedial mathematics in high school.

3.

Significant differences in mathematics and science achievement by race/ethnicity remain.

Average mathematics scores increased for all racial/ethnic groups since 1990, but
differences between White students and Black and Hispanic students have not
significantly decreased. For example, among 12th graders in 1990, the average
difference between White students mathematics scores and those of Black students was
33 points. In 1996, it was 31 points. (The National Assessment of Educational Progress
measures mathematics achievement on a scale ranging from 0 to 500.) The average
difference between White students mathematics scores and those of Hispanic students
was 25 points in 1990; in 1996, it was 24 points. (Note: we have some interesting
evidence from the Houston area. The state mathematics test for elementary grades, when
broken down by ethnicity, show that for grades 1 through 5 performances for all ethnic
groups passing rate are about the same. But they go downward from there on for Blacks
and Hispanics, while they remain about the same for the White non-Hispanics and Asian
groups.)

4.

College enrollment and degree attainment by minorities have been increasing. Although
minority enrollment in undergraduate programs dropped in the early 1980s, it has been
steadily increasing since 1984, both in numbers and as a percentage of total
undergraduate enrollment. In 1984, underrepresented minorities were 14.6 percent of all
undergraduate students; by 1994, they were 20.6 percent. Minority women account for
more of the increases in enrollment than do minority men. More than half (59 percent) of

minority undergraduate students are women, whereas less than half (44 percent) of
White, non-Hispanic undergraduate students are women.
5.

Of the 325,135 U.S. citizen and permanent resident students enrolled in graduate science
and engineering programs in 1995 (both full-time and part-time), 14 percent were
minorities. Blacks (6 percent), American Indians (0.5 percent), and Hispanics (4 percent)
continued to be underrepresented relative to their proportion in the population. Field
choices of minority women in science and engineering are more similar to those of White
women than they are to those of minority men. Higher proportions of women than men
within each racial/ethnic group are in computer or mathematical sciences, life sciences,
and social sciences and lower proportions are in engineering Asian women differ from
women in other racial/ethnic groups in that relatively small proportions of them are in
social sciences.

6.

With the exception of Asians, minorities constitute a small proportion of scientists and
engineers in the United States. Asians were 10 percent of scientists and engineers in the
United States in 1995, although they were 3 percent of the U.S. population. Blacks,
Hispanics, and American Indians as a group were 6 percent of the total science and
engineering labor force in 1995 and 23 percent of the U.S. population. (The science and
engineering field in which Blacks, Hispanics, and American Indians earn their degrees
influences their participation in the science and engineering labor force. Blacks,
Hispanics, and American Indians are disproportionately likely to earn bachelors degrees
in the social sciences, which are defined by NSF as science degrees, and then employed
in social service occupations, e.g., social worker, clinical psychologist, which are defined
by NSF as non-science-and-engineering occupations.) Blacks were 3 percent, Hispanics
were 3 percent, and American Indians were less than 1 percent of scientists and
engineers.

7.

In 1995, the unemployment rate of White scientists and engineers was significantly lower
than that of other racial/ethnic groups. The unemployment rate for Whites was 2.0
percent, compared with 2.8 percent for Hispanics, 2.4 percent Blacks, and 3.4 percent for
Asians. The differences in unemployment rates were evident within specific fields of
science and engineering, as well as for science and engineering as a whole.

8.

Racial and ethnic groups differ in employment sector, partly because of differences in
field. Among employed scientists and engineers in 1995, 51 percent of Black, 57 percent
of Hispanic, 64 percent of Asian, and 62 percent of White scientists and engineers were
employed in for-profit business or industry. Blacks and American Indians are
concentrated in the social sciences, which are less likely to offer employment in business
or industry, and are underrepresented in engineering, which is more likely to offer
employment in business or industry. Asians, on the other hand, are over represented in
engineering, and thus are more likely to be employed by private for-profit employers.

9.

Black, Hispanic, and Asian faculty are less likely than White faculty to be full professors
or to be tenured. Some, but not all, of the differences in rank and tenure are related to age
differences. Black, Hispanic, and Asian scientists and engineers are younger on average
than White and American Indian scientists and engineers. When age differences are
accounted for, differences in rank and tenure are reduced. For example, among ranked
faculty between the ages of 45 and 54, 50 percent of Hispanic faculty, 55 percent of Asian

faculty, and 59 percent of White faculty were full professors. Among Black faculty in
that age group, however, 25 percent were full professors.
10.

Black science and engineering faculty had, on average, fewer publications since 1990
than did science and engineering faculty in other racial/ethnic groups. Among scientists
and engineers who received their doctorates in 1990 or earlier and who work in 4-year
colleges or universities, 29 percent of Black faculty had no publications since 1990
compared with 14 percent of Hispanic, 12 percent of White, and 8 percent of Asian
faculty.

11.

Black and American Indian faculty are also less likely than other groups to have Federal
grants or contracts. Thirty-five percent of Black and 25 percent of American Indian
doctoral scientists and engineers employed in colleges or universities are supported by
Federal contracts or grants compared to 45 percent of all doctoral scientists and engineers
employed full time in colleges or universities.

12.

Asians are less likely than other groups to be in management or administration (14
percent of Asians compared with roughly 22 percent of Hispanic, White, and Black
scientists and engineers). Age differences do not explain this difference in managerial
activity. Among 35 to 44 year olds, Asians remain less likely to be in management; 13
percent of Asians and between 20 and 23 percent of other groups are in management or
administration.

13.

Salaries for scientists and engineers differ little among racial/ethnic groups. Among all
scientists and engineers, the median salaries by racial/ethnic group are $50,500 for
Whites, $50,000 for Asians, $45,000 for Blacks, $47,000 for Hispanics, and $48,000 for
American Indians. Within fields and age categories, median salaries of scientists and
engineers by race/ethnicity are not dramatically different and do not follow a consistent
pattern.

14.

Black and Asian women scientists and engineers are more likely than women from other
racial/ethnic groups to be in the labor force and to be employed full time in a field related
to their degree. Seventy-one percent of Black and 72 percent of Asian women scientists
and engineers compared with 61 percent of White, 68 percent of Hispanic, and 65 percent
of American Indian women scientists and engineers were employed full time in their
field.

15.

Median annual salaries of minority women are more similar to those of both White
women and minority men after accounting for field and age. Among engineers in the 20to 29-year-old age group, for example, the median salary of Hispanic women was
$40,000, for Black women $42,000, for Asian women $37,700, and for White women
$38,800. Median salaries for men engineers in the same age group ranged from $38,000
to $40,000.

The same study indicates that Blacks, Hispanics, and American Indians are less likely
than Whites to participate in higher education whether in science and engineering or in nonscience-and-engineering fields. Although Blacks, Hispanics, and American Indians as a group
are 23 percent of the U.S. population, they are 21 percent of college enrollment, 14 percent of
non-science-and-engineering bachelor degree recipients and 13 percent of science and
engineering bachelor degree recipients. These statistics, however, obscure the differences among

the three ethnic groups by grouping them together. We define Indices of Representation as the
quotient of the percentile production of BS, MS, and PhD degrees by ethnicity in a given year
divided by the percentile of the overall population of a given ethnicity. Given the ethnic
population distribution in 1995 (a year for which we have population and productivity data from
[NSF99]) shown below, we can compute these indices for Computer Science.
Ethnicity

% 1995
Overall
Population

White, non-Hispanic
Asian
Black, non-Hispanic
Hispanic
American Indian

73.50
3.40
12.00
10.40
0.07

% B.S.
Productivity
Index of
Representation
94.48
310.99
93.07
56.19
7.26

% M.S.
Productivity
Index of
Representation
88.67
564.80
44.82
29.51
35.43

% Ph.D.
Productivity
Index of
Representation
99.89
657.83
14.86
9.35
0.00

While Information Technologies involve areas other than Computer Science, it is likely
that these statistics are somewhat representative of other computing disciplines. While figures
for Blacks receiving Baccalaureate degrees in CS are encouraging, the indices of representation
at the graduate level and at all levels for other underrepresented minorities are dismal. By
comparison the indices for the Asian ethnic group look extraordinary.
In 1994 a Workshop on Increasing Participation of Minorities in the Computing
Disciplines was funded by NSF under the award CDA-9401736. The conference took place at
the Airlie Center in Airlie, Virginia on May 4-7, 1995. Bryant W. York chaired the conference.
The conference was preceded by a set of position papers submitted by the participants.
Summaries of those position papers are available in [BYork95]. Five main themes, briefly
summarized here, were addressed in those position papers:
1. Leveling the Playing Field. The position papers in this category considered the historical
barriers that have prevented minority institutions (MIs) from evolving more competitive
and broad programs and how these could be overcome. The roles of minority vs.
majority institutions were considered, the possible partnerships, Internet participation,
models and success stories of MIs, set-aside programs and leveling impact, political
equity, and the broad range of existing federal programs trying to solve these problems.
2. Pipelining. The pipeline is looked upon as the sequential feed-through of the educational
system from Kindergarten to doctoral programs (K-PhD). In particular, the questions
addressed relate to what are the social, cultural, and educational factors that may be
brought to bear to stop the leakage of human capital in the underrepresented minority
pipeline. The roles of mathematics and the computing culture to stimulate students in K12 are also considered. The importance and scarcity of role models for minorities are
addressed in these position papers, as well as the effectiveness of the NSF programs in
existence at the time.
3. Institutional Environments. The purpose of these papers is to determine the types of
institutional environments that are most conducive to the production of underrepresented
minority graduates. Three major aspects considered were: a) the physical/electronic
infrastructure, b) the human infrastructure, and c) the social context. Distance learning,

access to computing resources, use of high-performance machines, etc. were among the
physical infrastructure topics. On the human infrastructure the main topics dealt with
sufficiency of faculty at small institutions to provide quality Computer Science/Computer
Engineering educational and research experience, the idea of collaboratories and REUs,
the production of graduates at all levels in sufficient numbers, and the market for
underrepresented minorities in computing. On the social aspects the questions of
minority friendly vs. minority hostile institutions and nurturing perceptions were
addressed, as well as the profile that industry is seeking in underrepresented minority
graduates.
4. Quality, Evaluation, and Measurement. As MIs adventure into advanced degree
programs the question of maintaining quality and measuring and evaluating it is raised.
How is this measurement/evaluation to be done and by whom? How are the general
perception and reality aligned? How can quality be improved when such is needed?
What is the role of non-minority institutions in these efforts? How can projects be
designed to demonstrate the value and/or difficulty in enhancing the quality of graduate
programs?
5. Mentoring and Starting in IT. There is little question on the value of mentoring, but it
is a labor intensive and specialized activity. The questions raised are: What are the
qualities of a mentor at the different levels (undergraduates, graduates, other faculty)?
Must the mentor also be a minority ethnically related? Is there a role for peer mentoring?
Must the mentor and mentee be co-located? Can mentoring be done at a distance? What
are the doctoral advisor responsibilities before and after graduation? What is the role of
professional organizations in mentoring?
A report on the conference was issued in 1996 [BYork96]. We quote from the report:
The most significant conclusions to come out of the workshop are the following:

A variety of types of mentoring is essential to the success of students at all levels. The
base of mentors must be expanded. Same gender and same ethnicity are not required.
Scalability of mentoring is a problem.

The reward structure of academic institutions must be revised to reflect the importance of
teaching and mentoring.

The nation needs explicit metrics for evaluating teaching and mentoring.

Despite the current glut of PhDs in computer science, some minority institutions should
develop PhD programs in computer science.

The computer science community needs to acknowledge the continuum of need from
basic computer information literacy to PhD-level research.

All academic institutions (minority and majority) need to clearly articulate their
missions. Different missions have different infrastructure requirements.

The notion of replication of successful federal programs needs to be more carefully

analyzed.

Better coordination between professional organizations, community organizations,

industrial organizations and educational institutions with respect to the overall
development of children is possible through effective use of the Internet.

New K-12 curriculum in information management which is integrated with traditional

mathematics and science is required.

In other efforts, the NSF Partnerships for Advanced Computational Infrastructure

program (PACI) which supports two awards, the National Partnership for Advanced
Computational Infrastructure (NPACI, PI Sid Karin, University of California San Diego) and the
National Computational Science Alliance (NCSA Alliance, PI Larry Smarr, University of
Illinois), have also been involved in outreach activities. EOT-PACI is the joint education,
outreach, and training activity of these two partnerships and is lead by Richard Tapia, Roscoe
Giles, and Greg Moses.
The PACI program is focused on developing and prototyping the grid for scientific and
engineering applications. The grid is an emerging network infrastructure that links people, highperformance computers, sensors, instruments, and data repositories. It has the potential to be a
universal source of computational and information power analogous to the electrical power grid.
The technological and human problems of defining, constructing, and refining the grid are
daunting but are being addressed across the nation. Grid prototypes involve the use of existing
higher than Internet speed networks such as vBNS and Abilene. The grid has the potential to be
a force that will empower individuals and groups who have hitherto been marginalized to take a
strong role in the new information age. Failure to seize this opportunity can result in a
threatening amplification of inequities across our society, and a loss of valuable input into
national research initiatives. EOT-PACI is committed to inclusion of underrrepresented groups
in the design and exploitation of the grid.
EOT-PACI is working with successful mentoring and outreach projects such as those at
Rice and the University of Houston-Downtown to scale to a national level, working with
EDUCAUSE to encourage and support effective use of high performance networking at minority
serving institutions, partnering with the Coalition to Diversify Computing (CDC) - a joint effort
of the CRA, IEEE-CS, ACM, and ADMI - and with the CRA Committee on the Status of Women
in Computing (CRAW). Projects and exhibits at conferences are devoted to increasing the
number of women and minorities in computing and to attract young people to science and
computing. The EOT-PACI projects are evaluated by the Learning through Evaluation,
Adaptation, and Dissemination (LEAD) Center at the University of Wisconsin at Madison
(www.cae.wisc.edu/~lead).
EOT-PACI also participates in the Coalition to Diversify
Computing or CDC mentioned before (www.npaci.edu/Outreach/CDC/) as an outreach and
mentor pairing group. The concept of the CDC was apparently originally conceived at the Airlie
conference and taken up by other groups as a joint effort. Dr. Roscoe Giles, who will be cocoordinating this Virtual Workshop with the PI of this proposal, and is very active in PACI-EOT,
is Professor in the Department of Electrical, Computer, and System Engineering (ECS) at the
College of Engineering of Boston University.

6.4.

Constituencies - student participation

We can consider the organization of this workshop as having two coordinators and
seventeen moderators. In addition, a much larger number of discussants will take part in each of

the two phases of the workshop. We have moderators that have special experience. For
example, Richard Al indicates that he could interact with parents, teachers, and employers. He
and his group at the University of Houston have worked with Master Teachers and could get
them to participate. Also there is a large group of minority students who could participate from
that area. It would be ideal if the workshop could include all four kinds of people involved in the
decisions that students of different ethnicities make in choosing a career and an educational
process. These are according to function:

The parents: they will be the hardest to get to participate in the exchange. However,
there may be participants in the other categories who can play a dual role.

The teachers: they will range from elementary to high school to college/graduate school.
They are the ones who deliver the educational content, which enables the success of the
students, and have therefore much input to provide.

The students themselves: they are the main subjects of the study and should therefore
have their say in why and how their educational decisions are made.

The employers: they are representative of the degree of satisfaction with the education in
information technology provided to the students, and with the other factors affecting the
making of a good employee.

Even if all four groups are not equally or substantially represented, the identification of a
point of view in the electronic exchange (speaking as a parent, from the point of view of a
teacher, etc.) would be important in evaluating the perspective of the comment.
Should there not be an organized repository in the WWW where each of these constituencies
could find information on whom to deal with underrepresented minority issues related to
information technology? There are many different groups of people working on different aspects
of these issues that do not even know what others are doing in the same or in a closely related
area.
During the first phase (first month) the moderators will orient the discussion along four main
lines:

The outreach and high school motivation and preparation factors which influence the
choice of careers and preparation of the student for success in a college program in the
computer and information technology field. Ken Anderson from Siemmens, Giorgio
McBeath involved in WSUs Wright STEPP outreach program, which collaborates with
the Dayton (OH) Public Schools, and Evans Craig, Education, Outreach and Training
Manager of the Albuquerque Supercomputer Center, will participate as moderators in this
group. W e will use the term Outreach as an oversimplified handle for this area, with
full recognition that we are talking about a variety of caring and motivational factors that
are complex, and that it takes a group of people reaching for another group of people to
establish a positive experience.

The educational basis and the educational technologies (computer-based learning

technologies) which may aid or hinder in the development of a scientifically and
technologically motivated budding information technologist in the K-PhD environment.
What are the relationships between the cultural and social environment and the success in
school? What is the availability of information about the field of computing - in public

schools with significant minority enrollment for example? What can students learn on
their own and what must be taught in the classroom? What is the relationship between
public school teacher competence and enthusiasm in the use of computers and students
interest in a career in computing? How does exposure to computers in elementary and
secondary schools (feelings of competency and literacy) relate to affinity for computing
as a career? How do colleges and universities prepare teachers for diverse populations of
students? These are difficult questions that will be moderated by Henry Frierson,
Professor of Educational Psychology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
(at the undergraduate and graduate level), Etta Hollins who is Associate Dean of the
College of Education at Wright State University, and Richard Al, Professor and Director
of Center for Computational Science and Advanced Distributed Simulation, Department
of Computer and Mathematical Sciences at the University of Houston-Downtown. For
simplicity we will call this line of discussion Teaching although it clearly has a very
broad implication in motivation and preparation for a professional and lifelong career that
goes beyond teaching.

The graduate research and education aspects, and the mentoring and guidance that are
associated with it, are important components of the virtual conference given the low
indices of participation for Computer Scientists of all ethnic backgrounds. The question
of the relationship between minority institutions graduate programs and majority
institutions support of those programs is a delicate one. How should the success, or lack
of thereof, be measured and evaluated in minority graduate programs, and by whom?
How can the quality of minority institutions graduate programs or the cooperation with
majority institutions be improved? What is the role of non-minority institutions in
providing guidance to minority students who feel isolated in their midst? What guidance
and post graduation follow-up is necessary/desirable to insure the success of the few
minority PhDs? Is there credence to the anecdotal stories that Blacks with doctoral
degrees in CS go overwhelmingly into industry instead of into academia because industry
has done a better job of making diversity an integral part of their organizational values
and salary structure [CRA]? Bryant York, Associate Professor and Research Director
College of Computer Science at Northeastern University and a recent recipient of the
CRA Nico Habermann award for service to underrepresented groups in the computing
disciplines, Mario Gonzalez, Vice Chancellor for Telecommunications and Information
Technology, The University of Texas System, Celestine Ntuen, Professor in the
Department of Industrial Engineering at North Carolina A&T University, and Ricardo
Gutierrez, Assistant Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at Wright State
University will cover these topics relating to minorities and their research and graduate
programs. Henry Frierson will also participate in this discussion. This area is easier to
identify with the label of Research but it also involves undergraduate as well as
graduate experiences and scientific, mathematical and computing motivation at the high
school level.

Finally, along the dimension of mentoring and sociological success factors at all points
along the pipeline, we ask the questions of how to learn, teach, and optimize this laborintensive art of human motivation and caring. How can faculty be encouraged and taught
to be caring, committed, and competent in handling the special problems of
underrepresented minorities? How can both minority and majority institutions learn to

reward such efforts? How can we encourage role models without burdening
underrepresented minority faculty with a well-intentioned excess of committee and other
assignments as frequently happens? What are the possible profiles of mentors and how
can we identify systematically the good mentors? What are the training and typical
functions and rewards of mentoring? How could technology laboratories, businesses and
professional societies encourage the mentoring of underrepresented groups by their
industrial, government and academic leaders? How can the role and nurturing of the
extended family be enhanced at needed times in the pipeline, and how can distance and
isolation hurt and peer affinity groups have a positive influence and be encouraged when
needed? These are but a few of the issues to be honed by Willie Pearson, Jr., a Professor
specializing in the sociology of science in the Sociology Department of Wake Forest
University, by Andrew Bernat, Professor of Computer Science at the University of Texas
at El Paso and also winner of the CRA Nico Habermann award for service to
underrepresented groups, and Richard Tapia, the first Habermann award winner, recipient
of the White House Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and
Engineering and Noah Harding Professor, Department of Computational and Applied
Mathematics at Rice University. Because of its special character we call this area of
discussion simply Mentoring realizing that there is significant overlap with the others.
The characterization is that mentoring is more one-on-one (but not only in that modality)
than the other discussion topics.
We also hope that a good number of students may participate and many discussants from
academia, business, and government will also join us. We will try to seek computing-related
student organizations strong in underrepresented minorities to involve their members in some of
the virtual interactions. For example, there was an active IEEE Computer Student Chapter at the
University of California at Berkeley, of which Prof. C. V. Ramamoorthy was the advisor, which
had a strong minority representation.
During the second phase of the interactive exchange, a grouping of participating
contributors will take place in which more detailed elaboration on a certain number of groupselected topics will occur.

6.5. What is the same and what is different in our objectives from those of
other workshops? Factors.
This workshop is a virtual workshop or a Cyberconference in the sense that there is
no face-to-face meeting, but the communications are carried out over a period of two-months
using electronic media provided by NSF. The workshop will consist of two phases. During the
first month (October) all participants will communicate with each other and the sorting of issues
will be done by the moderators and the two coordinators. For the second month (November) or
Phase II of the Cyberconference, the co-coordinators and moderators will reconsider the issues
and specify a set of issues similar or different to the initial ones proposed below, according to the
inputs.
Rather than imposing a list of issues, this proposal is aimed toward providing an open
forum that will allow the participants to identify the issues that need to be researched. There
exists a clear and unfortunate correlation between financial status and minorities, a relationship
that will have to be taken into account in order to derive valid issues that are specific to ethnicity.
It is evident that low family income limits accessibility to computers, reduces the quality of the

education and discourages the pursuit of college and graduate education, all of which are
fundamental for careers in Information Technology.
Similarly, there is often a host of problems in the educational background and nonsupportive social environment for underrepresented groups. Family income and education are
related to the educational preparation and achievement of women and minority pre-college
students [NSF99]. For example, there is solid data on how parental income is related to average
scores on achievement tests. However, those factors are seldom taken into account in the
education process of the student.
Are there any other cultural issues that bias the different ethnical groups toward
traditional careers? Do ethnical groups experience a cultural resistance to incorporating
information technology into their lives? Are these biases common across ethnic groups or are
there issues that are specific to each group?
Could we possibly represent the status of potential information technologists as requiring
a minimum measure of sufficiency along each one of three axes in the figure involving
economic, social, and educational factors that complement each other in a consistently
reinforcing way?
It is noticeable in the data given above that the Asian ethnic group has an incredibly high
index of representation when compared to either the majority or other underrepresented groups.
Could the existence of some of these factors (real or perceived importance of economic, social
and educational values) be at play in the high representation of this ethnic group? Could
research identify which factors are at play in their success?

6.6.

Topics and Timetable for this proposal

The Virtual Workshop format offers the opportunity to solicit input from multiple groups
via electronic media. It will solicit inputs from underrepresented minorities in industrial careers,
researchers on social issues related to under-representation in IT, students, social scientists, precollege educators, and others who can contribute either personal experiences or research-based
expertise. As such, we will recruit a wide range of participants by announcing the workshop by
personal contacts with known contributors and role models, and also through electronic
distribution lists and newsletters. The moderators will play a crucial role in attracting
discussants. The workshops goal is to attract a proactive group of participants who can provide
information experiences to identify definitive research areas. Attracting participants to the
workshop who are representatives of the different constituencies, both ethnically and by role, is
one of the main functions of the fourteen consulting moderators.
The intended timetable for this project is:
Month in 1999
August
September
October
November
December

Activity
Refine Goals and Submit Proposal
Conduct Pre-conference activities among team members
Conduct Phase I of Virtual Conference
Conduct Phase II of Virtual Conference
Write a Report and get inputs from all participants and team

6.7.

Budget for this proposal

There is no equipment in this budget.

Travel is minimal and would be used for reporting, dissemination, and exchanges by the
co-coordinators.
The co-coordinators or co-PIs would be paid at a higher level, since their responsibilities
are more global than the moderators. The co-coordinators will be involved for the full, five
months, duration of the project and will lead the moderators in reviewing the final report of the
project. Moderators, in general, will be paid $3,000 as consultants to the project. They will be
partially involved in September, but mostly during October and November, in the electronic
exchange of Phases I and II, and in the Phase II definition, as well as in reviewing and
commenting on the final report in early December. The participants or discussants are not
compensated.

6.8.

Expected Outcomes

The most important outcome of this workshop will be a report full of original and
promising ideas on how to research the fundamental causes of non-participation by
underrepresented minorities in information technologies in a broad sense. This report will be
disseminated with the purpose of informing the community what this group believes are basic
research problems to be solved before programs are put in effect to solve the problem of underrepresentation. The hypothesis is that the assertion that we know what the problems are has
not yielded sufficiently significant results when implemented in programs, and that the
complexity and magnitude of the issues have not been properly assessed in as a quantitative and
definitive manner as it may be possible. Also, we are slowly recognizing that there are delicate
issues that are common, and others that are different, when thinking about women and also when
thinking about the various minority groups, including both those underrepresented (Black,
Hispanic, and Native Americans) and the one over-represented (Asians). The issues have
features that are not only educational and scientific and technological in nature, but also
sociological and cultural.
We have been warned by people who have been involved in previous studies to avoid at
all costs posturing by participants. The purpose of the conference is to inform the community
of what the research issues should be, not to promote statements of self-righteous indignation
among the participants (however valid it might be), but to scientifically and systematically
analyze the problem and its interdependent factors to be studied.
This report should be concise but comprehensive, and will be as disseminated as much as
possible. It will be published in a professional format in hard copy and in electronic form.

6.9. Brief description of levels of participation in this proposal and suggested

participants
We can ideally consider a possible organization of the Virtual Workshop in a matrix
structure for Phase I outlined below. While this would be an internal organization, during this
first phase all coordinators will be involved in all messages/discussions even if they are assigned
in different topical groups. This structure will be subject to modifications for Phase II, based on
the inputs provided by the participants. The matrix axes will be initially aligned along the four

discussion topics (outreach, teaching, research and mentoring) with consideration of a catchall
category titled Other. The three ethnical groups do not exclude any participants and will very
likely have overlap across moderators and coordinators, as shown in the following table, with
responsibilities not necessarily related to the ethnicity of the moderators. We also realize that the
four designations of Outreach, Teaching, Research, and Mentoring, as explained before, involve
serious overlaps and stand for much more semantic content than common use of the words alone
would imply.

African
Americans
(AA issues)
(Coordinators I
and II)
Hispanics
(H issues)
(Coordinators I
and II)
Native Americans
(NA issues)
(Coordinators I
and II)

Outreac
h

Teaching

Researc
h

Mentorin
g

Other

AA-O
(Moderat
or)

AA-T
(Moderat
or)

AA-R
(Moderat
or)

AA-M
(Moderat
or)

Anyon
e

H-O
(Moderat
or)

H-T
(Moderat
or)

H-R
(Moderat
or)

H-M
(Moderat
or)

Anyon
e

NA-O
(Moderat
or)

NA-T
(Moderat
or)

NA-R
(Moderat
or)

NA-M
(Moderat
or)

Anyon
e

We can consider three levels of participation in the workshop:

Coordinators: There will be two co-coordinators with responsibility for all topical areas
and with concerns about each underrepresented ethnic group, but willing and able to
coordinate and work with people of any ethnicity on common subject matters. The point
here is to have particular sensitivity to *special* issues within an ethnic group, but also
intensively interested in finding out in exchanges with the moderators about what is
common and what is not common in those issues. It should be clear that only by looking
for common approaches to research on the issues could the limited resources available be
used efficiently, but this should not be done at the price of ignoring that there are
differences between the groups. Coordinators will be responsible for (1) proposing the
initial discussion topics, (2) evolving these topics, as well as the structure of the
Workshop if needed, on a weekly basis, from the inputs provided by the moderators and
(3) preparing the final report in collaboration with the moderators.

Moderators: There will be a moderator in charge of each track in the matrix.

Moderators do not have to be of the same ethnicity as the group they moderate or issues
they comment on. The designation of a moderator for a given ethnicity had more to do
with making that moderator, in particular, more sensitive to any comments relating to that
ethnic group than with the ethnicity of the moderator. Most important is experience in
the four areas and others in dealing with underrepresented minorities. We do not
anticipate that the ethnicity of any of the coordinators, moderators, or participants, will be
revealed or be an issue in the discussions. Moderators will be mostly responsible for: (1)
contacting and attracting relevant participants to the workshop, (2) presenting discussion

topics provided by the coordinators and/or suggesting their own topics, (3) ensuring that
participants interact in an organized and constructive manner, by editing their comments
as needed, (4) submitting weekly reports to the coordinators, and (5) participating as
reviewers in shaping the topics for Phase II, and particularly in helping in the editing of
the final report.

Participants or discussants: The participants are the fundamental source of input and, as
mentioned previously, will ideally represent the four constituencies: academics
(researchers, faculty, teachers,), parents, students and employers. Participants will also
be encouraged to attract other discussants to the workshop. In order to foster diversity,
cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary interactions, all related to the broad field of
Information Technology, participants may also be invited to participate in several tracks
in Phase II.

Contact information for the coordinators and moderators is shown in Appendix I.

6.10. References and Resources

[BLS]

Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1983-95 National Industry-Occupation Employment

Matrix Time Series in Total Employment 1996 and Projected 2006.

[BYork95] A postscript file "nsfmi_papers.ps" may be retrieved by anonymous ftp. This may
be done by accessing, with the ftp UNIX command, the server ftp.ccs.neu.edu
(without the quotes, of course) and giving the login as anonymous. Then for the
password give your e-mail address. Do a change of directories by the command
line cd pub/people/york and then the command line get nsfmi_papers.ps that
will bring in a file to the location that you may specify. Exit with bye. These
working papers together with the final report [BYork96] should give a good picture
of the 1995 Airlie Workshop.
[BYork96] Final Report of the Report on Increasing Participation of Minorities in the
Computing Disciplines, Bryant York et al. See:
http://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/york/aascc/nsfmi_prop/nsfmi_rep.html.
[CRA]

Computer Research Association, The Supply of Information Technology Workers

in the United States, P. Freeman and W. Asprey, 1999.

[DOC]

Department of Commerce, Americas New Deficit: The Shortage of Information

Technology Workers. See: http://www.ta.doc.gov/reports/itsw/itsw.pdf.

[ITAA]

Information Technology Association of America,ITAA Initiates IT Skills Gap

Research Program. See: http://www.itaa.org/news/pr/pr19990412.htm.

[OMB]

In accordance with Office of Management and Budget guidelines, the racial/ethnic

groups described in this report will be identified as White, non-Hispanic; Black,
non-Hispanic; Hispanic; Asian or Pacific Islander; and American Indian or Alaskan
native. In our use these groups will be referred to as White, Black, Hispanic, Asian,
and American Indian. The term minority includes all groups other than White;
underrepresented minorities includes three groups whose representation in
science and engineering is less than their representation in the population: Blacks,
Hispanics, and American Indians.

[NSF99]

National Science Foundation, Women, Minorities, and Persons With Disabilities in

Science and Engineering: 1998. Arlington, VA, 1999. (NSF 99-338) See:
http://www.nsf.gov/sbe/srs/nsf99338/access/

7. Appendix III. Computer Science degrees during 1989-1995

The following plots show the trends in earned Computer Science degrees for
underrepresented minorities (US Citizens and Permanent Residents only) during the period
1989-1995 [NSF99]. In order to computer indices of representation, the 1995 race/ethnicity
population distribution has been assumed for the previous years 1989-1994.

Index of representation. B.S. in Computer Science (w/o Asians)

Indices of representation
B.S. in Computer Science (w/o Asians)
120%
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
1989

1990

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

White, non-hispanic

Black, non-hispanic

Hispanic

American Indians or Alaskan Natives

Index of representation. M.S. in Computer Science (w/o Asians)

120%
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
1989

1990

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

White, non-hispanic

Black, non-hispanic

Hispanic

American Indians or Alaskan Natives

Index of representation. Ph.D. in Computer Science (w/o Asians)

120%
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
1989

1990

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

White, non-hispanic

Black, non-hispanic

Hispanic

American Indians or Alaskan Natives

8. Appendix IV. Guidelines and Netiquette

Research Foundations on Successful Participation of Underrepresented
Minorities in Information Technology: A Cyberconference.
8.1.

Workshop Policies

Policies must be strictly followed. Violators of these policies shall lose the opportunity to
participate in any further discussion on this site.
1. Privacy must be respected. Postings with potentially libelous content are not allowed and
shall be deleted from the database.
2. Postings containing a violation of a law shall not be allowed, and shall be deleted from
the database.
3. Postings containing commercial value shall not be allowed and shall be deleted from the
database.
4. Postings containing any type of profanity shall be edited or completely removed from the
database.
5. Harassment or personal attacks on other participants shall not be tolerated, and shall
result in the loss of opportunity to further participate in discussions on this site.

8.2.

Workshop Guidelines:

All participants are encouraged to adhere to the following guidelines:

1. Messages should remain brief and to the point. For particularly long messages, post a
brief summary, submit the document as an attachment.
2. Format all postings in a manner that enhances its effectiveness. Try to avoid using all
capital letters, as this is the virtual equivalent of shouting.
3. Postings should be professional in nature, and must be related to the workshop
discussions and goals.
4. When responding by embedding comments, please use the + symbol to denote the
response.
5. Each posting should make reference to the subject of the message to which it refers.
6. All responses should be directed at the subject, not the person. Strong opinions and
criticisms shall NOT be disallowed; however, please make sure that any such postings
cannot be construed as an attack on an individual or group.
7. Post URLs and other references in the References section.

9. Appendix V. NSF Dear Colleague Letter on the IT Workforce

Title: Information Technology Workforce -- Dear Colleague Letter
Date: March 21, 2000
National Science Foundation
4201 Wilson Boulevard
Arlington, VA 22230
Title: Information Technology Workforce
Dear Colleague,
The Federal government plans to increase its investments in fundamental, long-term research in
information technologies (IT), encouraging, in particular, research spanning information
technology and scientific applications, and in the area of social, ethical and workforce issues. To
help ensure that the United States continues its worldwide leadership in IT, we need to strengthen
the technological workforce and to produce a continuous supply of well-trained high-quality
professionals in engineering and computer and information science (Presidents Information
Technology Advisory Committee Report, http://www.ccic.gov/ac/report/). Without an IT
workforce that is large enough to meet both the public and private sectors growing demand, and
that is adept at using and producing information technologies, we surely risk losing the scientific,
economic and human resource advantages we now enjoy.
In this respect, the under-representation of women and minorities in the IT workforce is a serious
national problem. There is agreement among some of the nations leading researchers and
scientists that systematic research efforts are needed to address this problem. Hence, the
National Science Foundation is announcing a new special emphasis on the IT workforce (ITW)
that will support a broad set of scientific research studies focussed on the under-representation of
women and minorities in the IT workforce.
Research Goals
ITW welcomes proposals that address important research questions related to the underrepresentation of women and minorities in the IT workforce. While there is no consensus on a
single definition of the IT workforce, we encourage researchers to carefully articulate and justify
their own definition of the IT workforce model. A suggested, but not exhaustive, list of possible
research questions is included in Appendix A. These research topics revolve around three basic
themes:

Environment and Culture: How the environment, culture and other social contexts (e.g.,
households, neighborhoods, communities) shape interest in IT, and how interest in and use of
IT shapes the environment, with particular emphasis on increasing our understanding of
developmental issues at different ages.

IT Educational Continuum: Understanding how the overall educational environment

influences students progress along the educational continuum from grade school to entry
into the workforce, and why students who have the potential to succeed in the study of IT
disciplines take educational paths that preclude or make it difficult to enter the IT workforce.

IT Workplace: Why women and minorities who have the potential to succeed in the IT
workforce take alternative career paths, what barriers and obstacles they must overcome, and
how the IT workplace can foster increased retention and advancement of women and
minorities.

Multi-disciplinary collaboration among researchers in IT, the social sciences, and education is
strongly encouraged. Research can address issues at the individual level, at the societal level, at
the institutional level, or across levels of analysis. All proposals should take into consideration
existing relevant research on the IT workforce. Small projects (one to two investigators) as well
as medium-sized multi-site team projects (three to five investigators) will be supported.
ITW encourages research using a variety of methods. These include tools design, development
and experimental evaluation, simulation and modeling, survey analysis, statistical models,
ethnographic work to test models, case studies, and the development of new methods for
understanding increasingly complex processes and dynamics of transformation. Formal metaanalysis methodologies across previous studies and intervention programs will be supported in
order to build on the results of earlier work and to add to the research base.
ITW will also support the analysis and assessment of existing information tools and technologies
and their possible differential uses and implications for Women and Minorities in IT. It will also
support the design, development, and assessment of prototypes of new information tools and
technologies that will benefit women and minorities in IT.
Eligibility
Proposals may be submitted by any organization eligible for NSF support as reflected in the
Grant Proposal Guide (GPG). Multi-disciplinary collaboration between researchers in IT and the
social sciences is strongly encouraged.
Proposal Preparation Instructions
Proposals submitted in response to this Dear Colleague Letter should be prepared and submitted
in accordance with the general guidelines contained in the Grant Proposal Guide (GPG) NSF 0002 and must be submitted via Fastlane.
Visit our site on the World Wide Web
(http://www.fastlane.nsf.gov).
Submission Date
Proposals for the ITW Special Emphasis must be submitted by 5 PM, local time, on June 22,
2000, using NSFs FastLane electronic proposal submission system, see the Grant Proposal
Guide (GPG) for instructions. The complete text of the GPG (including electronic forms) is
available electronically on the NSF Web site at: http://www.nsf.gov/.
When submitting your proposal, please type NSF-00-77 in the block entitled Program
Announcement/Solicitation No./Closing Date.
Contact for Additional Information
Please send all inquiries by Email to ITW-prog@nsf.gov.

Award Information
Proposals submitted explicitly in response to this Dear Colleague Letter will be considered for
funding as well as proposals that fit the criteria of ITW but which are submitted to other
programs, divisions or directorates. ITW awards may be funded for up to 3 years and will
generally range from $75,000 to $250,000 per year. Depending on the availability of funding,
between 15 and 25 proposals may be selected for support per funding cycle.
Ruzena Bajcsy
Assistant Director, CISE

10.

Appendix VI: Research Questions

10.1. Theme 1: Environment and Culture

Given the relative newness of computing technologies in the world today and the strong
demand for skilled IT workers in the US, why are women and minorities
underrepresented in various sectors of the IT workforce?

How does access to computer technology affect interest in IT careers?

What role does socialization play in the development of individual attitudes, stereotypes,
aspirations, educational and career choices related to IT? Do expectations and ethnic
values transmitted through family, peers, teachers, and role models influence educational
and career choices related to IT?

How does popular culture through media, toys, games, and the entertainment industry
influence educational and career choices related to IT?

What are the design principles for information tools and technology that encourage and
support the interest and participation of women and minorities in IT?

How do household investments in IT education and equipment for children affect the
choices these children make later in life?

10.2. Theme 2: IT Educational Continuum

Why do students who have the potential to succeed in the study of IT disciplines take
educational paths that preclude or make it difficult to enter the IT workforce?

How does the overall educational environment influence such students progress along
the educational continuum from grade school to entry into the workforce?

The importance of taking appropriate courses in mathematics and science has long been
recognized as an integral part of preparation for IT careers. Why are minorities still
under-represented in the study of mathematics and science? What role is played by
counselors, teachers, and parents in aptitude identification and encouragement of students
to persist in studies necessary for IT?

IT is increasingly being integrated into K-16 education. What is the impact on women
and minorities of efforts to provide access to and general use of computers in K-16
education?

The traditional focus of entry level computer courses is on programming with extensive
work in computer laboratories, and with sequential course prerequisites. What is the
impact on women and minorities, of different teaching methods and learning styles in IT
education?

What is the impact of the perception of relevance and social benefit of computing in
attracting and retaining women and minorities?

A variety of information technologies are used in educational settings. What role do they
play in attracting and retaining women and minorities in IT?

Are there common characteristics among women and minorities with advanced degrees
in IT that explain their persistence and success in IT fields?

There are a number of intervention programs in place designed to attract and retain
women and minorities in IT disciplines. What are the effects of interventions on the
retention and success of women and minorities in IT?

There are many ways of mentoring students, faculty and workers in the IT fields. What
are the effects on the retention and success of women and minorities in IT, of the different
mentoring models and strategies? How should issues of replication, scalability and
delivery be addressed?

How can educational institutions be structured and managed to ensure diversity? What is
necessary to attract and retain women and minorities as IT faculty? Is there knowledge to
be gained from multidisciplinary studies across fields such as engineering, medicine and
law, by comparing models of intervention that have been successful in attracting and
retaining women and minorities?

The rapid and continuing changes in the IT work environment fuels the need for IT
workers to participate in lifelong education, training and self-development. What is the
appropriate balance among these?

10.3. Theme 3: IT Workplace

Why do women and minorities who have the potential to succeed in the IT workforce
take alternative career paths? What barriers and obstacles must be overcome?

How can the IT workplace foster increased retention and advancement of women and
minorities?

Do quality of life issues related to IT careers such as burnout, long workdays, and lack of
social interaction influence retention and career mobility of women and minorities in the
IT workforce?

How do evaluation, reward structures and family-friendly practices impact the retention
of workers in the IT workforce?

Do stereotypes and the status of the IT profession affect the recruitment and retention of
women and minorities into IT careers? What are the effects of traditional and nontraditional entry and career paths on retention and career mobility? What are the formal
qualifications and desired characteristics of IT workers that are necessary to be successful
in IT occupations? How do degrees (or lack thereof) impact career paths and
advancement? Do the desired characteristics fit men more so than women, nonminorities more so than minorities?

Prior empirical work has shown that market as well as environment and culture influence
students and professionals career choices. What can be learned from investigations of

the IT labor markets that might explain the under-representation of women and minorities
in IT?

Appendix VII. Limited On-Site Survey

Summary of Comments by W. J. Harris, Media Director, Solarsounds Broadcasting
Commercials, Co. and Cyberconference Moderator
Mr. Willie J. Harris, one of our Cyberconference moderators, visited community centers, public
high schools, and public and private colleges, including Historically Black Colleges and
Universities. Students, teachers, faculty and administrators shared their experience, wisdom, and
opinions about the issues connected with attracting and retaining minority students in educational
pathways toward careers in information technology.
During these interactions, one particularly noteworthy observation by Mr. Harris was that the
high school communities and the college communities consistently differed in their views and
experience on the subject of minority participation in IT. In general, the high schools seem to
have little activity or even awareness of the relevant issues due probably to a variety of problems
such as uninformed teachers and counselors, and budget constraints. For example, virtually no
sign of posters, pamphlets, bulletins, etc. was evident in any of the schools to raise interest in or
awareness of IT. Students were severely uninformed except when parents were engaged in
computer related careers.
However, in colleges, at least within their colleges of engineering and computer science, and in
job placement areas, high levels of awareness and interest by students and faculty was evident.
Interestingly, however, professors find that very few students switch into IT from other areas,
and that mostly they are committed to IT as freshmen.
Public information campaigns regarding IT and related careers are clearly needed. This is
particularly desirable at the secondary school level. These should be tailored to each of the
ethnic groups and even within ethnic groups from region to region within the U. S. Techniques
are available which could prove useful in different circumstances: Live focus groups and
professional meetings, print media for bulletin boards at all educational levels, and public service
announcements in broadcast media so that the appropriate technique be matched to the intended
target audience. There must be particular care to emphasize information about "career"
opportunities over just immediate employment with limited education.